The Côte de Beaujolais/brouilly">Brouilly is one of the 10 crus appellations of the Beaujolais region. It covers the slopes of the dormant volcano of Mont Brouilly in Central Beaujolais. The area is entirely surrounded by the vineyards of the much larger Brouilly appellation, but it is home to a significantly different style of wine, made from the Gamay Grape. Côte de Brouilly wines are concentrated and Elegant, with Floral">floral characters, and are less earthy than their Brouilly counterparts.
The appellation covers only red wines. However, legislation allows a small amount of white grapes in addition to Gamay. The wine growers can use Chardonnay, Aligoté or Melon de Bourgogne. The Côte de Brouilly appellation covers one of the smallest areas of all the Beaujolais crus, and is also one of the most southerly.
Gamay is a Burgundian grape variety that has existed since the 14th century. For fear of competition with the pinot noir of Burgundy, gamay was finally uprooted and planted in the Beaujolais region, from Mâcon to Lyon. These siliceous and granitic soils suit it perfectly, and it gives its best here. But it is also planted all over France, such as in Lorraine, in the Loire Valley, in Bugey, in Savoie and in Auvergne. Gamay is early and very productive and needs to be limited so that quality prevails over quantity. Short winter pruning of the shoots and high density of vines per hectare are the methods that allow it to produce very fruity, fresh and greedy red wines. Gamay is also very popular in red wine futures, and produces wines from the Beaujolais region with very interesting character and ageing potential. The AOCs Crémant-de-Bourgogne, Mâcon, Anjou, Touraine, Rosé de vallée de la Loire, Côtes-d'Auvergne, Saint-Pourçain, Bugey, Gaillac, Côtes du Luberon... and many vins de pays are proud of it. Today, about 36,000 hectares of Gamay are cultivated in France, including 22,000 hectares in Beaujolais.
red wines from the region of Côte de Brouilly go well with generally quite well with dishes of pasta, veal or pork such as recipes of pasta with mushroom sauce, chicken breast with curry and mushrooms or rabbit with cider and mushrooms.
On the nose in the region of Côte de Brouilly often reveals types of flavors of oak, red fruit or strawberries and sometimes also flavors of earth, spices or black fruit. In the mouth in the region of Côte de Brouilly is a with a nice freshness.
