When the market for Beaujolais Nouveau fell, the region went into crisis. Such a high percentage of Beaujolais had given itself over to the production of Nouveau that it was unable to adapt. The identity of the region was blurred, and its reputation clouded.

Fortunately, over the years, a small group of producers had instead focused on making the best possible wines from grapes grown naturally and farmed meticulously. Though the greater market for Beaujolais foundered, these producers had gained a small but devoted following. By making a smaller volume of far superior wines, and charging more for them, they demonstrated a path toward a successful future for the region.

This vision of Beaujolais is our focus in Wine School. Sure, there is plenty of mass-market Beaujolais. The great majority of the Beaujolais produced no doubt falls into this category. But not the wines we are drinking, and this is where I take issue with Al Jiwa and others who echoed those comments.

Great Beaujolais today transcends the simple wines of old and the cheap, mass-market wines of the present. It can be complex, and it is age-worthy. But great Beaujolais remains joyous, which, in my mind, at least, connects it with those very different wines that Mr. Lynch extolled.

Today, excellent Beaujolais producers abound. I included two of them among the three wines I suggested: the 2011 Juliénas from Michel Tête’s Domaine du Clos du Fief and the 2011 Côte de Brouilly from Jean-Paul Brun’s Terres Dorées. The third wine was a bit of a compromise. In an effort to pick a wine that would be easier to find, I selected the 2011 Beaujolais-Villages from Louis Jadot, a mass-market wine that is nonetheless well made. Not all of you were able to find these wines, but I was very happy that many were able to turn up equally good choices.

Both the Tête and the Brun are what’s known as cru Beaujolais, wines from 10 villages in the north of the Beaujolais region thought to have terroirs distinctive enough that their names are appellations. In addition to Côte de Brouilly and Juliénas, the others are Brouilly, Chénas, Chiroubles, Fleurie, Morgon, Moulin-à-Vent, Régnié and St.-Amour. Terroirs with theoretically less potential than the crus may be termed Beaujolais-Villages or, at bottom, plain Beaujolais. These wines are not necessarily bad. Plain Beaujolais from producers like Brun or Pierre-Marie Chermette’s Domaine du Vissoux can be absolutely delicious, pure and direct.