Mature Flâneur

It’s a Beautiful Day in Beaujolais

A land of vistas, vines, and loverly wines

The sanctuary of the “church” in Juliénas. All photos by Tim Ward, except as noted.

We stepped inside the church. Bacchus, god of wine sat, smiling, astride a wine barrel, a brimming sacramental cup in his right hand. All around him scantily-clad villagers frolicked and fondled one another in all the rites of a good-old-time bacchanal! It was just a mural, of course, painted on the front wall of the de-consecrated Juliénas church. (The new one stood just across the road). But how gloriously irreverent!

Beneath the smiling god, a dozen real villagers chatted heartily, all drinking wine. It was noon on Easter Monday, though from the way the locals were dressed (no skimpy robes, instead coats and sweaters, rubber boots on one fellow) this seemed to be a regular lunch break before everyone headed back to work in the vineyards.

Locals gathered in the “church” in Juliénas at lunch.

Juliénas Village was our first stop in Beaujolais. After two weeks in Burgundy, what a shock for me and Teresa (my partner in life and in wine)! The landscape didn’t look that much different — rolling farmland quilted with vineyards, tiny stone villages, each with a cathedral, here and there an impressive…