Category: Uncategorized

Beaujolais tuns – seems like a rather strange concept, doesn’t it? But don’t worry, it’s not a misspelling for some kind of rare measurement of weight. A tun spelt with a ‘u’ is the place where most Beaujolais winegrowers store the majority of their cellaring wines for aging.

WHAT EXACTLY IS A TUN?

A tun is a large wooden cask that can store up to 300 hectoliters of wine. Imagine a giant cask or barrel, and you’ll be able to visualize exactly what a tun is!

While most other French wines use different types of barrels or casks with smaller capacities, Beaujolais wines develop much better in tuns. It gives them more space to live and breathe. Because as it matures, wine is actually a living entity! It is constantly evolving and changing until it finds its own harmony!

WHAT DOES AGEING IN TUNS BRING TO BEAUJOLAIS WINES?

Why do winegrowers in the Beaujolais region prefer tuns to barrels and other casks and vats? Simply because the type of container affects the contents. A wine that matures in a wooden barrel or cask tends to become impregnated with the aromas of the wood and develop vanilla, toasted and grilled notes.

Growers in the Beaujolais region want their wines to develop distinct grape and red fruit aromas. Therefore, they prefer to mature their wines in tuns to temper the oaky aromas that might permeate are attenuated in the wine. In fact, as the capacity of a tun is much larger than that of a barrel or cask, the woody flavours become more diluted in the wine. The wood is less concentrated, leaving plenty of room for the real star of the show: the grape.

As the Beaujolais tun is also a wider cask, the wine is better oxygenated. It is this oxygenation that enables the aromas to develop.  As you’re probably aware, it is recommended to aerate red wine for at least 20 minutes before serving. But have you ever wondered why? Well, when you uncork a bottle and the air enters, it awakens the wine. All the molecules start moving and this helps the wine develop fully.  Try it next time you serve a Beaujolais wine. Taste the wine as soon as you open it and then again 20 minutes later.  You’ll notice a lot more flavors the second time!

The same phenomenon occurs in the Beaujolais tuns, enabling wines from a given vineyard to fully express their particular terroir.

IS THE TYPE OF WOOD USED TO MAKE A TUN IMPORTANT?

Even though only an infinitesimal part of the wine comes into contact with the wood of the tun, the particular vintage inside is bound to retain some traces of it. For Beaujolais wines to achieve their intensity, they are usually stored in tuns made from French oak. This wood wasn’t just chosen at random!

Different types of wood from different origins are used for making wine barrels. But Beaujolais winegrowers chose French oak because of its finesse. Unlike American oak, for example, French oak tends not to impregnate the wine so strongly. Its more subtle aroma allows the grape and the terroir on which it was grown to express themselves
more fully.

Depending on whether growers in the Beaujolais are making red, rosé or white wines and whether they want to create more rounded and complex wines or, conversely, keep the typical characteristics of the terroir, they choose the container that best suits their particular purpose: traditional wooden ones (barrel, half-hogshead, tun), cask or even in the bottle. But tuns are generally preferred here because they give the gamay grape the space to fully develop and help it take on the fruitiness that is typical of Beaujolais wines.

Beaujolais first became internationally known in the 20th century thanks to Beaujolais Nouveau although its winegrowing area is thousands of years old.

Beaujolais wines since Antiquity!

Vineyards in the Beaujolais region go back to Antiquity! There are signs of winegrowing in the first century BC, at the time of the Romans.
The Juliénas cru is said to be named after one Julius Caesar.

… During the Middle Ages

From the early Middle Ages, the Lords of Beaujeu left their mark on the region. One of them, Bérard, became known from around 957 thanks to 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 the early sixteenth century, when it was replaced by Villefranche-sur-Saône.

… After the seventeenth century

From the seventeenth century, the Beaujolais winegrowing area attracted the bourgeoisie from Lyon. Local dignitaries enjoyed non-taxable sales rights and used to sing the praises of Beaujolais wines in Paris.

New communication links like Briare Canal between the Loire and the Seine put the Beaujolais region on an important trading route between the south of France and Paris. Goods arriving at the port of Belleville on the Saône were transported onwards to the Loire via the Beaujolais region. Beaujolais wines could therefore be transported all the way to Paris.

Rapid growth in the winegrowing area

At the same time, Beaujolais became the wine of the Canuts, the silk workers in Lyon. Special trading conditions were negotiated with Paris and Lyon based on a north-south division: the winegrowers in the north would trade with the capital and those in the south with their neighbour, Lyon.

The Beaujolais region became the prime supplier of taverns and the famous Bouchon restaurants in Lyon, where the wine was served in jugs.

More recently in the 19th and 20th centuries

In the 19th century, the advent of the railways accelerated the expansion of Beaujolais wines. However, from 1875 the winegrowing area was reduced to a tiny proportion of what it had once been after it was decimated by phylloxera. It would be revived notably thanks in particular to research carried out by Victor Pulliat, a well-known figure in the Beaujolais region, who introduced American stock grafts that were more resistant to the American aphid.

In the 20th century, the Beaujolais region established its pedigree with the emergence of the AOC wines (from 1936 to 1988) and the first cooperative cellars.

The second half of the twentieth century saw the advent of Beaujolais Nouveau. In 1985, the third Thursday in November was decreed as the day it is released for sale.

And the story is far from over. It’s up to you to carry on writing it by trying out Beaujolais
wines !