The Beaujolais wine region of France is a very prosperous wine region, cultivating nearly 55,000 acres, which is more than the other three departments of Burgundy combined The Beaujolais wine region produces an average of 13 million cases annually The Beaujolais wine region is best known for the Beaujolais Nouveau wine that is releasedThe bucolic region often identified as the southern part of Burgundy, Beaujolais actually doesn't have a whole lot in common with the rest of the region in terms of climate, soil types and grape varietiesBeaujolais achieves its own identity with variations on style of one grape, Gamay Gamay was actually grown throughout all of Burgundy until 1395 when the Duke of Burgundy banished it This is because Beaujolais is one of the few regions where most of their wines undergo some form of carbonic maceration (letting whole bunches of uncrushed grapes ferment spontaneously in CO2) This helps give the wine its fruity and soft character, but it can also give th...