Spring is here! As much as we lament the passing of the Winter, we love the promise of Spring. And, as much as we love the hearty Red wines of Winter, we love the buoyant, playful wines of Spring. So, this week, we have a spectacular example of a Red wine that doesn’t need to be heavy to be great. The 2017 vintage in Beaujolais was very short as a result of hail early in the season. The result are concentrated wines with impressive purity of fruit. We tasted quite a few different 2017 Cru Beaujolais before we found the Vignerons de Bel Air Julienas. This lovely wine, not to be confused with it’s rather unimpressive cousin Beaujolais Nouveau, offers a window into the soul of the region and the vintage with a deeply perfumed nose of violets, fresh picked blueberries, and a sun-splashed meadow just after a warm Summer rain. The palate continues the theme with electric flavors of bursting pomegranate seeds, first of the season cherries, and Moro orange. What’s more is that this impressive bottle of Gamay manages to leave some rather profound Burgundian minerality in its wake, evidence, no doubt, of very high quality vineyard sourcing and a woefully small crop. We challenge you to find a more thought provoking Red, heavy or light in body, at such a modest price. If you like to swirl and sniff a good bit in between sips then you are going to be all sorts of happy with this one!