It is officially fall, and that means it's time for Beaujolais! Just in time, the 2020 Beaujolais wines from Kermit Lynch's Gang of Four have arrived. These are the benchmark examples of Cru Beaujolais that catapulted the region out of its slump of notoriety. Before these four producers began the shift towards biodynamic, natural-leaning practices, Beaujolais was a region known only for inexpensive, thin, fruity, quaffable plonk. These four firebrands, or the Gang of Four as they are known in the wine industry, have fought to turn around the fortunes of every winemaker in Beaujolais over the last few decades as the region’s top wines have climbed from jaw-dropping and underpriced to mid-priced village-level Côte d’Or. The estates in question are Marcel Lapierre, Jean Foillard, Guy Breton, and Jean-Paul Thévenet. They each famously championed organic farming, hand-harvesting ripe fruit, and a winemaking philosophy of “nothing added, nothing taken away” that has spread like wildfire to all corners of the wine world. Irresistibly delicious yet deeply complex and age-worthy, these wines have silenced many a critic and quenched many a parched palate.