Back in Roman times, vines were already being grown in the Beaujolais region. It\u2019s even said that the Juli\u00e9nas cru was named after Julius Caesar. But it was in the Middle Ages that the region’s wines really began to make a name for themselves. And it\u2019s a story that involves a number of famous people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Beaujolais winegrowing area really started to become well-known thanks to the Lords of Beaujeu. One of them, B\u00e9rard, became known from around 957 for his wine trading. The Lords of Beaujeu gave their name to the area and contributed to its aura. Beaujeu was the capital of the Beaujolais region up until 1514, when it was replaced by Villefranche-sur-Sa\u00f4ne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wine production at the time was marginal compared to other crops. It wasn’t until the 17th<\/sup> century that winegrowing here really expanded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the 19th<\/sup> century, Victor Pulliat played a major role in the rebirth of the vines that had been decimated by phylloxera. It was in Chiroubles that he studied different ways of eradicating the insect. His research took him all around Europe carrying out graft tests. The vines were saved after he advocated the grafting of American rootstock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today his memory is still honoured in the region. The Victor Pullliat Prize is awarded to the best vintages in each of the 10 Beaujolais crus at the annual F\u00eate des Crus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The name Victor Vermorel is associated with the fight against mildew. In the late 19th<\/sup> century, he started experimenting in the family workshop in Villefranche-sur-Sa\u00f4ne. He is mostly known for creating a Bordeaux mixture spray to rid the vines of this particular disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the 20th century the sheer energy of men such as Louis Br\u00e9chard, a winegrower and MP, L\u00e9on Foillard, wine merchant and founder of the Compagnons du Beaujolais (Beaujolais Guild) and G\u00e9rard Canard, former director of the Beaujolais professional wine network, contributed to the promotion of Beaujolais Nouveau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the undisputed king of this bacchanalian high table is Georges Duboeuf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes nicknamed the \u201cpope\u201d or the \u201cking\u201d of Beaujolais, Georges Dub\u0153uf came from a long line of winegrowers. He settled in 1964 in Roman\u00e8che-Thorins to establish his Beaujolais and M\u00e2connais wine trade. A discerning taster, he had his heart set on revealing the talent of the winegrowers and enhancing the great terroirs. A tireless ambassador for the region, he travelled the world to promote his wines alongside renowned chefs such as Paul Bocuse, Pierre Troisgros and Guy Savoy. He contributed greatly to the reputation of Beaujolais Nouveau by organising major international events. A forerunner in terms of communication, in 1993 he founded the Hameau Dub\u0153uf, a museum dedicated to the vineyards and wine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And finally there is the local man, Beaujolais lover and champion of the winegrowing He often says that Beaujolais is “a wine associated with youth, energy, freshness and with priests or workers\u2019 gardens where there are a few red fruits to be found”.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In an interview with the Lyon Capitale newspaper, he defined Beaujolais as a “wine for the class struggle (\u2026). Wine for Laughing Cow cheese and for crown roast of lamb. Wine to be drunk in local restaurants with old friends and wine to be drunk at family lunches. Wine for a left-wing workers\u2019 sausage stew and wine for the pot-au-feu of the political right. \u2018Beaujolpif\u2019 for workers to slurp and Saint-Amour for weddings\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Take it from Bernard Pivot: there really is a Beaujolais for every occasion and every Back in Roman times, vines were already being grown in the Beaujolais region. It\u2019s even said that the Juli\u00e9nas cru was named after Julius Caesar. But it was in the Middle Ages that the region’s wines really began to make a name for themselves. And it\u2019s a story that involves a number of famous people. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3033,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[120],"thematique":[92],"class_list":["post-1072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-pur-terroir-en","thematique-pur-terroir-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beaujolais.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beaujolais.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beaujolais.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beaujolais.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beaujolais.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1072"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beaujolais.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3525,"href":"https:\/\/www.beaujolais.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1072\/revisions\/3525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beaujolais.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beaujolais.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beaujolais.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beaujolais.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1072"},{"taxonomy":"thematique","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beaujolais.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/thematique?post=1072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Pulliat and Vermorel: saviours of the vines<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The fathers of Beaujolais Nouveau<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Georges Duboeuf and Beaujolais on a global scale<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Bernard Pivot, local man<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
area. Bernard Pivot, writer, man of letters and television presenter, author of the book Dictionnaire amoureux du Vin (Wine Lovers\u2019 Dictionary) and member of the Goncourt Academy, is the co-founder of the Beaujolais Defence Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
personality!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"