Beaujolais-Villages AOC

The Beaujolais appellation was recognised by decree on 12 September 1937. According to INAO's cahier des charges, producers in the northern communes, whose powerful, age-worthy wines contrasted with the lighter, fruitier wines of the south, sought an appellation of their own. In 1943 a list of 31 communes allowed to add their name to Beaujolais was published, and on 21 April 1950 those 31 communes were grouped into one unit under the Villages mention. Inter Beaujolais says that in 1950 Beaujolais was the first to officially use the term to designate a specific part of its AOC; a JancisRobinson.com guest article calls it the first appellation in France to have used the term. The Château de Montmelas, which overlooks the Villages vineyards, dates back to 977 according to Inter Beaujolais, when it was the residence of the Lords of Beaujeu; the council adds that the monks of Cluny helped develop vineyards on many of the hillsides later classified. The legal birth of Beaujolais Nouveau came with an administrative note of 13 November 1951, and release to consumers on the third Thursday of November dates from 1985 (INAO cahier des charges).

• 1937: decree recognising AOC Beaujolais; 1943: list of 31 communes allowed to add their name; 21 April 1950: those communes grouped under the Villages mention (INAO cahier des charges)
• Château de Montmelas was restored in the Gothic Revival style in the 19th century by the Lyon architect Louis Dupasquier (Inter Beaujolais)
• Beaujolais Nouveau: administrative note of 13 November 1951; third Thursday of November release from 1985 (INAO cahier des charges)

Beaujolais-Villages occupies the northern half of the Beaujolais zone, in the departments of Rhône and Saône-et-Loire. Inter Beaujolais describes steep vineyards facing east-south-east between 200 and 500 metres, surrounding the ten crus; elsewhere on the same page it gives a range of 190 to 550 metres. INAO's cahier des charges says vines for the Villages mention are planted only on acid soils in the north of the zone, on Palaeozoic bedrock or the Quaternary deposits derived from it, and that these sandy soils from crystalline rock allow balanced, harmonious wines with long aromatic persistence. Inter Beaujolais lists the soils as gneiss, blue stone, sandstone, shale and granite. The cahier describes a degraded oceanic climate with continental and southern influences, in which the Monts du Beaujolais to the west shelter the vineyard from westerly winds.

• Vineyards face east-south-east between 200 and 500 metres, per Inter Beaujolais; the INAO cahier des charges gives 180 to 550 metres for the whole Beaujolais zone
• Northern bedrock: granites, porphyries, schists and volcano-sedimentary rocks from the Hercynian uplift, weathering into acid sandy or clay soils (INAO cahier des charges)
• The Monts du Beaujolais block westerly winds, and their foehn effect dries the oceanic air, reducing cloud and rainfall (INAO cahier des charges)

Under INAO's cahier des charges, red and rosé wines come from Gamay as the principal variety, with small permitted shares of accessory varieties, and white wines come from Chardonnay alone. Inter Beaujolais says Gamay covers 97% of the 13,500 hectares claimed across the 12 Beaujolais AOCs (as of 2026, Inter Beaujolais's website) and describes Gamay noir à jus blanc as a natural cross of Pinot Noir and Gouais Blanc. The cahier notes that growers habitually use a typically Beaujolais vinification inspired by semi-carbonic maceration to preserve fruit, and that vines are mostly short-pruned in the gobelet system. Inter Beaujolais says harvesting in Beaujolais-Villages is mostly done by hand. Red wines other than Nouveau must be aged until at least 1 January after the harvest and may reach consumers from 15 January (INAO cahier des charges).

• Accessory varieties for red and rosé: Aligoté, Chardonnay, Gamay de Bouze, Gamay de Chaudenay, Melon, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir (INAO cahier des charges)
• Inter Beaujolais says the wines from the southern part of the appellation are easy-drinking and fruity, those from the central area richer and structured, and those from the cru area more robust and round
• The cahier describes Villages reds as deeper in colour than plain Beaujolais, with a powerful, structured and harmonious palate

Inter Beaujolais says the Beaujolais-Villages production area surrounds the ten crus, which it lists from north to south as Saint-Amour, Juliénas, Chénas, Moulin-à-Vent, Fleurie, Chiroubles, Morgon, Régnié, Côte de Brouilly and Brouilly. Brouilly is the southernmost cru and is listed by Inter Beaujolais at 1,200 hectares, and Morgon at 1,090 hectares (as of 2026, Inter Beaujolais's website); Inter Beaujolais says Morgon's Côte du Py is made up of decomposed shale. Moulin-à-Vent, which a JancisRobinson.com guest article calls the "most highly rated of all the Beaujolais crus", covers around 620 hectares (as of 2026, Inter Beaujolais's website) on pink granite with manganese, and Inter Beaujolais describes full-bodied, fleshy wines. Inter Beaujolais says Chiroubles has the highest vines in Beaujolais, between 270 and 600 metres, and that Chénas is the smallest appellation at 250 hectares (as of 2026, Inter Beaujolais's website). Régnié's AOC decree is dated 8 December 1988, per the JancisRobinson.com guest article.

• Inter Beaujolais lists Brouilly at 1,200 ha and Morgon at 1,090 ha (as of 2026); a JancisRobinson.com guest article covering the 2010 vintage gave 1,327 ha and 1,126 ha
• Morgon's Côte du Py is made up of decomposed shale, per Inter Beaujolais; its most-claimed lieux-dits include Côte du Py, Aux Charmes, Corcelette and Grands Cras
• Moulin-à-Vent sits on pink granite with manganese and spans the communes of Romanèche-Thorins and Chénas; Chénas, at 250 ha, is the smallest cru (Inter Beaujolais, as of 2026)

Inter Beaujolais says Beaujolais-Villages is worked by more than 1,000 winegrowers, half of them in private cellars (as of 2026, Inter Beaujolais's website). INAO's cahier des charges records that in 2018 the wines labelled Villages or with a commune name were made by 1,900 growers, 9 cooperative cellars and a few négociant wineries. The same text notes that the first cooperative cellars appeared at the end of the 1920s, followed by a second generation in the 1950s that helped improve quality across the region.

• 2018: about 3,700 ha and nearly 200,000 hl for wines labelled Villages or with a commune name, made by 1,900 growers and 9 cooperatives (INAO cahier des charges)
• 2008: 6,300 ha and an average of 350,000 hl for the Villages mention (INAO cahier des charges)
• Inter Beaujolais says Villages white and rosé wines are rarer and often in high demand among connoisseurs

INAO's cahier des charges sets a yield of 58 hl/ha for Villages red and rosé and 66 hl/ha for white, with ceilings of 63 hl/ha and 73 hl/ha. Minimum natural alcohol is 10.5% for red and rosé and 11% for white, and after enrichment the wines may not exceed 13% for red and rosé or 13.5% for white. The Beaujolais name may instead be followed by the name of the commune the grapes come from, for a list of communes set out in the cahier, and a registered lieu-dit may appear on the label in type no more than half the size of the appellation name. Only the Beaujolais and Beaujolais-Villages AOCs can produce Beaujolais Nouveau in red and rosé, according to Inter Beaujolais, and the cahier caps maceration for primeur or nouveau wines at 10 days. Inter Beaujolais says Fleurie submitted its premier cru application to INAO on 22 November 2023, with official submissions for Brouilly and Moulin-à-Vent in 2024, and expects recognition of premier cru lieux-dits by 2035.

• Yields of 58 hl/ha for red and rosé and 66 hl/ha for white; plain Beaujolais is allowed 60 hl/ha and 68 hl/ha (INAO cahier des charges)
• Minimum natural alcohol of 10.5% for red and rosé and 11% for white; producers may add the name of the commune the grapes come from (INAO cahier des charges)
• Premier cru candidates proposed by growers: 7 lieux-dits in Fleurie, 16 in Brouilly and 14 in Moulin-à-Vent (Inter Beaujolais, July 2024)

Inter Beaujolais describes a 140-kilometre Beaujolais Wine Route that continues from the Burgundy Wine Route and runs through the Beaujolais-Villages growing area, with its villages and steep vineyards. Stops it suggests include Beaujeu, the historic capital of Beaujolais, Vaux-en-Beaujolais, the priory at Salles-Arbuissonnas-en-Beaujolais and the mediaeval castle of Montmelas. Inter Beaujolais itself is based in Villefranche-sur-Saône, and the council says Beaujolais became a UNESCO Global Geopark in April 2018.

• The 140-km Beaujolais Wine Route runs past the ten crus and through the Villages area before finishing in the Pierres Dorées country (Inter Beaujolais)
• In Beaujeu, Inter Beaujolais points visitors to Saint Nicholas Church, the Beaujeu hospices and the remains of Beaujeu Castle, demolished in 1611
• Château de Montmelas, nicknamed 'Sleeping Beauty's' Château, overlooks the Villages vineyards (Inter Beaujolais)

Primary sources (INAO and Inter Beaujolais): https://extranet.inao.gouv.fr/fichier/PNO-cdcBeaujolais-cn220210.pdf, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/appellation/beaujolais-villages/, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/discover/nos-12-appellations/, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/about-us/, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/legal-notice/, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/cepage/gamay/, 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/appellation/beaujolais/, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/2024/07/25/futures-beaujolais-premiers-crus/, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/appellation/moulin-a-vent/, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/appellation/chiroubles/, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/appellation/brouilly/, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/appellation/morgon/, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/appellation/chenas/, https://www.beaujolais.com/en/visit/the-beaujolais-wine-route/. Secondary sources: https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/beaujolais-current-facts-and-figures, https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/beaujolais-fleurie-premier-cru-plan-backed-by-winemakers-502633/. Last verified 2026-09-24