Yesterday was the first day of fall and the high was only 85 degrees (yay)! It doesn’t sound like much, but there was a nice breeze and less humidity in the air. Given those conditions, I felt the need to pull out a red. I had a bottle of 2016 Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Villages handy, so I figured that would be an easy transition.

Maison Louis Jadot was founded in 1859 by the man whose name it bears, Louis Henry Denis Jadot. The first of his family arrived in Beaune from Belgium in 1794 and soon began purchasing Premier and Grand Cru vineyards. With grape growing a part of his heritage, Louis Henry set about gaining experience first in the cellars, in the evaluation of wines, and then in the vineyards, in the study of viticulture.

This wine is made with 100% Gamay and mainly comes from the Rhône and Saône-et-Loire region. The terroir is composed of granite as well as clay and calcareous. Among the 55,000 acres of vineyards planted in the Beaujolais region, about 15,000 acres are under the name Beaujolais Villages, Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée, which is the intermediary appellation between the Beaujolais and the 10 Crus.

2016 was a tense year for growers. Conditions swung between frequent rainfall, cool conditions, heat spikes and even periods of drought during the ripening period.

The wine was pale ruby with fruitiness – like strawberry jam, cherries, and raspberry – and some spice/earth quality to it. It was light, but bright and tasty. For $10 at Costco, it is such an easy sipper. It’s also widely accessible in grocery stores. I paired it with a “cool” evening, playing fetch with my pup.