There’s a certain romance in hearing about something extraordinary happening far away and wishing you were there. Like hearing old tales of Larry Levan’s legendary nights at the Paradise Garage and suddenly wanting to become a DJ, or seeing Shaun Ryder drenched in strobe light in a Happy Mondays’ video and dreaming of moving to Madchester, distance breeds desire. That kind of romantic longing helped inspire our very first Fête du Beaujolais back in November 2016.

A few years earlier, we’d been reading about the Beaujolais Nouveau tastings at Paris’s Caves Augé on wineterroirs.com. Vignerons like Jean Foillard and Marcel Lapierre would be pouring wines out front on Boulevard Haussmann, smoking Gauloises, and catching up with friends – it looked like a proper scene. We couldn’t be there, so when we opened our first restaurant we did the next best thing: we threw our own party.

Launched from our Lamb’s Conduit Street HQ, our Fête du Beaujolais takes place every third Thursday of November, the traditional release day of Beaujolais Nouveau. But our celebration goes beyond Nouveau: it’s a tribute to Cru Beaujolais, the region’s highest-quality designation, with its ten revered villages—Fleurie, Morgon, Moulin-à-Vent, Juliénas, Chénas, Chiroubles, Saint-Amour, Régnié, Brouilly and Côte de Brouilly. These are serious wines: soulful, structured, and still great value in a world where classic French regions have rocketed in price.