Paradis in Beaujolais
Picturesque Beaujolais
No, not a typo, but a special fraction of the pressing from carbonic maceration. I first came across it during a visit in December 2011 to beautiful Beaujolais.
The whole bunch fermentation – carbonic maceration – typical of gamay in Beaujolais (I’m in the middle of writing a fuller account of this) means that much fermentation takes place inside individual whole berries.
When these are pressed, the first part of the pressing is called the paradis. Just a small part from the vat. It has only a few degrees of alcohol and therefore still lots of sugar. It’s used in specialty recipes of the region. The rest of the pressing goes to tank to finish (traditional) fermentation, a process that takes a few more days.
