The Beaujolais Run

Bring Back the Beaujolais

‘Bring Back the Beaujolais’ announced Sunday Times columnist Alan Hall in 1973.  This challenge to Fleet Street was issued as a result of a wine-fuelled dinner in Paris three years earlier between restaurateur/wine distributor Joseph Berkmann and Clement Freud, a Member of the British Parliament and Director of the London Playboy Club.

According to The Beaujolais Run’s website, the two bon-vivants filled their cars with cases of Beaujolais Nouveau after midnight and ‘challenged each other to be the first to get their cases to London in the first Beaujolais race™’.  Word spread and what was originally a two-man race became a popular (and increasingly competitive) annual challenge. 

With entrants always seeking to improve their competitive edge, an RAF team eventually put an end to the racing aspect of the event in 2006 when they broke all existing records in a Harrier Jet. The Beaujolais Run’s unique blend of camaraderie, cars, wine and cuisine meant it could outlive its original purpose as a race and, in the organiser’s own words, the event ‘has evolved to become an enjoyable navigational shootout’.

Supercars and classic cars are able to compete due to the cryptic checkpoints that teams are required to go through in order to complete the course from the UK to the Beaujolais region (and back again of course, with a case of the latest Beaujolais Nouveau in the car).

With a strong emphasis on charity (their chosen charity is The Royal Airforce Benevolent Fund), the organisers also allow entrants [with approval] to support an additional charity of their choice.

An Unforgettable Way to Enjoy Beaujolais Day

There are many ways to celebrate the release of the latest Beaujolais Nouveau but a truly unforgettable way to enjoy Beaujolais Day must be The Beaujolais Run.  To find out more about applying for this unique event, click here to visit The Beaujolais Run website.