Wine of the Week: 2002 Beaujolais-Villages, Joseph Drouhin
By CHRIS SHERMAN, Times Food Critic
Published November 16, 2005
Yes, this is not-so-new, nowhere-near-nouveau wine, and a fine reminder that Beaujolais makes better stuff worth waiting for. Look beyond the nouveau all year round.
This gamay is a dependable, friendly, everyday red pinot noir without the pretense. It's bright purple with a fruity snootful of raspberries, cherries and strawberries that get plummier, broader and softer in the mouth, with a light, silky texture. It still has a bit of earth and air for breadth and crispness. I had mine with spinach pie, but a ham sandwich or grilled chicken would have been fun too.
This particular bottle has about three years' worth of age. It's from a good year, 2002, and is from the Villages, select vineyards with higher ranking than plain Beaujolais. But picking through any wine shop or liquor store will turn up others from favorite villages, such as Morgon and Chenas, and from 2003, an even better year.
