The 2010 vintage is now available. It has recently been singled out by Jancis Robinson in the Financial Times as one of the best 2010 Beaujolais. We are currently getting ready for the 2011 harvest which promises to be a great year after a very dry spring.
It is a long time since I updated our blog…. now called ‘News’ on our great new website. After our fabulous 2007 Régnié Beaujolais was made in September of that year, we have been incredibly busy both in France and the UK continuing to find new markets, as well as making sure all our existing customers were supplied.
Great efforts have been made to find agents to distribute for us and although we need more, as our business expands and our wine continues to be of a consistent fine quality, we are very happy to have been taken on by ‘Bacchus Wine International’ in London and by an agent in Brittany, France. This will hopefully leave us a little freer to manage the vineyard and even give me time to grow more vegetables here at Maison des Bulliats! {beans and beetroot went in the ground today and tomatoes ready for a spell of better weather.
Our latest efforts ourselves to distribute our 2007 wine have been concentrated on Food and Wine fairs in the UK. The France Show in early January was a success that we shared with our French friends in nextdoor Morgon. It is Gerard Brisson, you remember who makes our wine now and went on to make an excellent 2008 vintage in spight of another fickle summer. Many vineyards suffered hail damage last year but again our grapes were of exceptional quality and those that we sold again to the Cooperative at Quincié received category one.
The BBC Food and Wine show in Birmingham is next, in June, and we hope to increase further our sales. Posters have been designed and printed and Fred has constructed a super bar for our stand which we can dismantle and take to future fairs.
Promotional events in France have included receiving a group of Compagnons du Beaujolais from Quebec. Germaine Brisson and our son who is living there at the moment, presented our wine at a fair in Quebec city in March. The Compagnons came to Maison des Bulliats for a further tasting and I prepared a lunch for them. It was a very enjoyable day. On the menu was a terrine de Campagne and an almond cake, both recipes will be posted in the coming weeks.
The highlight of early Spring was the news that we had received a Burgondia d’Or award, after entering a competition in early February. We are thrilled with this additional accolade and now have smart gold shield stickers that our bottles proudly sport!
So we have not been idle since I last wrote. The current financial crisis worldwide has affected everyone and we have to work hard to reach new markets. We are lucky to continue to have the help and support of friends in Beaujolais and persevere together to ride these difficult times. I will let you know in the next posts how we are getting on….