Beaujolais AOC

According to the Beaujolais cahier des charges published by INAO, the Roman emperor Probus allowed the Gauls to have vines in 280 AD, notably in the Monts d'Or near Lyon, and the Beaujolais wine trade expanded during the 18th century. In the 19th century the south turned toward light, fruity wines for the nearby Lyon market, while the north, looking toward Mâcon and the markets of northern France, favoured more concentrated wines suited to ageing and transport. The first cooperative cellars appeared at the end of the 1920s, followed by a second generation in the 1950s. In 1951 the Union Viticole du Beaujolais asked to sell its wines en primeur before the general release of 15 December; an administrative note of 13 November 1951 allowed it, and the cahier des charges dates the official birth of Beaujolais Nouveau to that note. Release to consumers on the third Thursday of November followed in 1985. The cahier des charges puts Nouveau volumes at about 500,000 hectolitres in the mid-1980s, never more than half of total Beaujolais production.

• The Beaujolais AOC was first recognised by decree on 12 September 1937, according to the INAO cahier des charges
• In 1943 a list of 31 northern communes allowed to add their name to Beaujolais was published, and on 21 April 1950 those communes were grouped under the Villages mention
• Régnié became the tenth and final cru in 1988, completing the hierarchy that remains in place today.

The INAO cahier des charges places the vineyard on the eastern edge of the Massif Central above the Saône valley, stretching 55 kilometres north to south between Lyon and Mâcon and 15 to 20 kilometres east to west, between the Saône plain and the Monts du Beaujolais, at altitudes between 180 and 550 metres. It describes a degraded oceanic climate with continental influences (summer storms, freezing winter fogs) and southern ones (summer heat, rainfall peaks in autumn and spring). The Monts du Beaujolais shelter the vineyard from westerly winds, and their foehn effect dries the ocean air. Geologically the zone splits in two. In the north, Palaeozoic granites, porphyries, schists and volcano-sedimentary rocks weather into sandy or clayey acidic soils; in the south, more recent Triassic and Jurassic sedimentary formations, mainly limestone, give generally more clayey and deeper soils. Whatever the subsoil, the slopes face mainly east and south.

• A soil survey carried out for Inter Beaujolais by the Sigales soil study office between 2009 and 2018 identified more than 300 soils across the 12 appellations, and Inter Beaujolais says the April 2018 UNESCO Global Geopark label made Beaujolais the 7th Geopark in France
• Inter Beaujolais gives Fleurie's soil as 90% pink granite and Côte de Brouilly's as 40% blue stone, a name it explains by the bluish glints the rock gives off as it weathers
• Morgon, overlooked by Mont du Py, is the largest of the Beaujolais crus according to Inter Beaujolais, and its Côte du Py is made up of decomposed shale

Under the cahier des charges, red and rosé Beaujolais are made mainly from Gamay, with aligoté, chardonnay, gamay de Bouze, gamay de Chaudenay, melon, pinot gris and pinot noir allowed as accessory varieties, while white Beaujolais is made from Chardonnay alone. Inter Beaujolais describes Gamay noir à jus blanc as a natural cross between Pinot Noir and Gouais Blanc, planted in the territory since the early 17th century. It describes the grapes as thin and delicate-skinned and says granite soils seem to be the variety's soil of choice. JancisRobinson.com notes Beaujolais's refreshingly high acidity, and Decanter's James Lawther MW credits the crus' acidity and supple tannins with a linear precision and firmness. JancisRobinson.com describes the lighter style as made in sealed tanks under carbon dioxide, a method known as carbonic maceration that helps extract fruit rather than tannin, and the cahier des charges says producers customarily use a typically Beaujolais vinification inspired by semi-carbonic maceration. Wines labelled primeur or nouveau, a mention reserved for reds and rosés, must have a maceration of no more than 10 days.

• As of 2026, Inter Beaujolais's website says half of the world's 30,000 hectares of Gamay are in Beaujolais, where the variety covers 98% of the area producing Beaujolais wine
• Within the Beaujolais appellation, Inter Beaujolais's website says, as of 2026, that 90% of production is red on average and 10% is white and rosé in equal parts, with over 300 hectares devoted to white AOC Beaujolais
• Decanter's James Lawther MW puts cru alcohol levels at 12.5% to 13%, and JancisRobinson.com says the most substantial examples from Brouilly, Moulin-à-Vent and Morgon start to taste more like mature Pinot Noir

JancisRobinson.com names Georges Duboeuf as the leading négociant of Beaujolais. Decanter reports that Duboeuf (1933-2020) founded his merchant business focused on Beaujolais wines in 1964, and reported in 2020 that the house was run by his son, Franck. Decanter also records that Duboeuf declined credit for creating the Nouveau tradition, pointing to the Beaujolais wine union UIVB, although he did more than most to bring Nouveau parties to wine lovers outside France. Cooperatives carry weight: the cahier des charges records 18 cooperative cellars vinifying a third of the volumes produced in 2008, and for 2018 lists 1,900 growers, 9 cooperative cellars and a few négociant-vinifiers. Among its favourite producers, JancisRobinson.com lists Château des Jacques, Château de Pizay, Clos de la Roilette, Terres Dorées, Château Thivin and Domaine du Vissoux.

• Georges Duboeuf (1933-2020) founded his Beaujolais merchant house in 1964, according to Decanter
• Inter Beaujolais, the interprofession based in Villefranche-sur-Saône, set out a ten-year roadmap called Beaujolais Nouvelle Génération in January 2017
• Since 2010 Inter Beaujolais has organised the International Gamay Competition

Beaujolais operates under a three-tier AOC hierarchy regulated by INAO. The generic Beaujolais AOC, first recognised by decree on 12 September 1937, is a regional appellation whose production zone covers the whole Beaujolais vineyard, with a yield of 60 hl/ha and a minimum natural alcohol of 10% for red and rosé wines. Beaujolais-Villages, applying to 38 communes in the northern half of the zone, sets a lower yield of 58 hl/ha and a higher minimum natural alcohol of 10.5% for red and rosé wines, and the cahier des charges describes its reds as powerful, structured and harmonious. The ten crus at the top of the pyramid are each individual AOCs, the communal appellations that Inter Beaujolais places in the north of the vineyard. The cahier des charges also allows the mention supérieur for red Beaujolais and lets certain northern communes add their name to Beaujolais. Red wines other than primeur or nouveau must be aged until at least 1 January after the harvest and reach consumers from 15 January, while primeur or nouveau wines may circulate between bonded warehouses from the 38th day before the third Thursday of November.

• Yields under the cahier des charges: 60 hl/ha for red and rosé Beaujolais (rendement butoir 65 hl/ha) and 58 hl/ha for red and rosé Beaujolais-Villages (rendement butoir 63 hl/ha); white Beaujolais is set at 68 hl/ha
• Minimum natural alcohol: 10% for red and rosé Beaujolais and 10.5% for white; 10.5% for red and rosé Beaujolais-Villages and 11% for white
• Beaujolais Nouveau may only be produced under the Beaujolais AOC and the Beaujolais-Villages AOC; the ten crus are not among the appellations that can produce it.

Inter Beaujolais says the region lies less than a 30-minute drive from Lyon. Its Beaujolais Wine Route continues on from the Burgundy Wine Route as a 140-kilometre circuit running from Chânes nearly all the way to Lyon. In the north it passes the ten crus, which Inter Beaujolais lists from north to south as Saint-Amour, Juliénas, Chénas, Moulin-à-Vent, Fleurie, Chiroubles, Morgon, Régnié, Côte de Brouilly and Brouilly. The route continues through Beaujeu, which Inter Beaujolais calls the historic capital of the region, and ends in the Pierres Dorées country, 39 villages built in an ochre-coloured stone. The cahier des charges notes that Beaujolais is sometimes presented as « le troisième fleuve de Lyon », after the Saône and the Rhône, in reference to its popularity.

• Inter Beaujolais says the Notre-Dame aux Raisins chapel on Mont Brouilly has watched over the harvests since 1854
• Beaujolais Nouveau is released on the third Thursday of November, and, as of 2026, Inter Beaujolais's website says it accounts for over 20% of the vineyard's production, with over 160,000 hectolitres drunk every year
• Inter Beaujolais suggests pairing Beaujolais rosés and reds with Lyonnais specialties as well as with dishes from Asia

Primary sources (INAO and Inter Beaujolais): https://extranet.inao.gouv.fr/fichier/PNO-cdcBeaujolais-cn220210.pdf, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/appellation/beaujolais/, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/discover/nos-12-appellations/, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/a-world-for-every-beaujolais/pur-terroir-by-beaujolais/the-beaujolais-vineyard-a-mosaic-of-soils/, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/about-us/, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/appellation/regnie/, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/appellation/morgon/, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/appellation/fleurie/, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/visit/the-beaujolais-wine-route/, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/appellation/saint-amour-2/, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/legal-notice/, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/appellation/cote-de-brouilly/, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/appellation/beaujolais-villages/, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/cepage/gamay/, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/appellation/moulin-a-vent/. Secondary sources: https://www.decanter.com/obituaries/beaujolais-wine-pope-georges-duboeuf-dies-429939/, https://www.jancisrobinson.com/learn/wine-regions/france/beaujolais, https://www.decanter.com/wine-reviews-tastings/cru-beaujolais-344017/. Last verified 2026-09-24