Imperceptibly, as you continue south, the Mâconnais becomes the Beaujolais , a larger area of terraced hills producing lighter, fruity red wines, which it is now fashionable to drink very early. The Beaujolais grape is the Gamay, which, in contrast to other parts of Burgundy, thrives here on this granite soil. Of the four appellations of Beaujolais, the best are the crus , including Morgon and Fleurie, which come from the northern part of the region between St-Amour (the northernmost cru ), and Brouilly in the south. If you have transport, you can follow the cru trail south from Mâcon by turning right at Crêches-sur-Saône up the D31 to St-Amour, and then south along the D68. Beaujolais Villages, which produces the best nouveau , comes from the middle of the Beaujolais region, south of the cru belt, while plain Beaujolais and Beaujolais Supérieur are produced in the vineyards southwest of Villefranche.
The well-marked route de Beaujolais winds down through the wine villages to VILLEFRANCHE , not far from Lyon and a good base for the route. Here, the tourist office
at 290 rue de Thizy (Mon-Sat 9am-noon & 1.30-6pm, Sun 9am-noon; tel
04.74.68.05.18) has all the information about caves , visits and wine
tours. There are numerous cheap hotels , almost all near the gare SNCF
. A good one to try is the friendly and clean La Colonne , 6 place
Carnot (tel 04.74.65.06.42; under €24), with a popular cheap bar
, open every night - including Sunday, when everything else in the
village is dead. Most of the cafés on rue Nationale are good for snacks
or cheap menus, too.
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