The "Pope of Beaujolais" dies

By Mathew Lyons

Published: 06 January, 2020

Legendary Beaujolais wine merchant Georges Duboeuf has died.

Duboeuf passed away on Saturday at his home in Romanèche-Thorins, near Lyon following a stroke. He was 86.

Duboeuf turned the annual release of the latest vintage into a global phenomenon known as Beaujolais Nouveau Day, which hit its peak in the 1980s.

He earned the nickname “the Pope of Beaujolais” for his tireless efforts to promote the region’s wines.

Duboeuf was born in 1933 at Crêche-sur-Saône in the Saône-et-Loire department of eastern central France. His family had been winemakers for four centuries.

His career began in the 1950s when he established an association of local winemakers called L'Écrin Mâconnais-Beaujolais.

In 1964 he founded Vins Georges Duboeuf. By the time he stood down from business in 2018 it was producing some 30 million bottles of wine a year. It also operated a musuem, a shop and a wine bar in Romanèche-Thorins.

The company is now headed by Duboeuf’s son Franck.

Responding to his death, Dominique Piron, president of Inter Beaujolais, told the AFP news agengy: "He had always been a figure in the region, the potential of which he promoted. He raised the flag of Beaujolais all over the world.

"Georges Duboeuf had flair, intuition, and was ahead of his time,” Piron said.

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