It’s November - the Beaujolais Nouveau is on the way

The third Thursday in November each year is a special day in the French wine calendar. It is ‘Beaujolais Nouveau’ - or more correctly, ‘Beaujolais Primeur’ – Day. In the Burgundy region, where the wine comes from, it is an excuse to party - to celebrate the new wine!

Wine is a very subjective and personal thing. Many of my friends, who enjoy wine, wait for this day with great anticipation each year as the time draws near, and would not miss trying the new wine on the day it is released. Others dismiss it as a marketing ploy – to promote a non-descript or mediocre wine – and would not be seen dead drinking it. How sniffy can you get? It is fun wine, not to be taken too seriously

So, what is Beaujolais Nouveau? It is a red wine made from the gamay grape in the Beaujolais wine region (appellation controlée) of Burgundy, which was established in 1937. The grapes, by Law, must be harvested by hand and the wine is ready for bottling and drinking 6 – 8 weeks afterwards due to the particular ‘vinification’ process used.

Beaujolais Nouveau is the most popular vin de primeur, fermented for just a few weeks and then officially released for sale on the third Thursday of November. This ‘Beaujolais Day, or ‘Beaujolais Nouveau Day’ sees heavy marketing from the producers, competing and racing with one another to get the first bottles of the vintage to different markets around the world. For example, it is very popular in the wine bars in the City of London. It is also very popular in Japan, the States, where it is promoted as wine to drink for Thanksgiving, which falls a week later, and, perhaps surprisingly, in Germany, which produces its own very good wines. The labels are usually very attractive and colourful and redolent of a ‘fete’.

Beaujolais Nouveau is a purple-pink wine (showing its youthfulness), which is particularly lightweight, even by the standards of Beaujolais wines in general. The wine is produced in such a way that there is very little tannin, and is dominated by fruity notes, especially bananas and pears, enhanced by the recommendation to serve the wine lightly chilled, at about 13°C (55°F).

But Beaujolais Nouveau wine has its critics, who dismiss it as light-weight and immature. For example, wine critic Karen MacNeil has compared drinking Beaujolais Nouveau to eating cookie dough.

Beaujolais Nouveau is intended for immediate drinking, and, generally speaking, should not be kept longer than a year. It usually benefits, however, from being left a few weeks to recover from the effects of so-called ‘bottle-shock’. In the Northern Hemisphere, the weather is more suited to drinking Beaujolais in the Spring, rather than in the chill of November. But, this, of course, rather misses the point of the immediacy of Beaujolais Nouveau. Drink it and enjoy it at the time! The wines show definite variation between vintages, and, at worst, they start to decline after Christmas. However, wines from a very good year may still be drinking well 12 months later.

The best Beaujolais Nouveau producer, in my opinion, is Georges Duboeuf - and not because he is, in fact, the biggest. His bottle labels feature a different colourful abstract design each year; and he has silk ties made each year with the label's design, and releases them through certain wholesalers and distributors. I would not mind having and sporting one! Again, a bit of fun!

So, what will this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau turn out to be like? Try it for yourselves on ‘Beaujolais Nouveau Day’ itself and let ‘Frogsiders’ know what you think!

Is it just marketing hype? Is it a bit of fun? Or is it wine to take seriously? Ian Blackshaw explains and previews the release of this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau on November 19

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Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé

by Ian Blackshaw

Pundits have been forecasting that 2009 would be a good vintage for French wines as the weather – although mixed – has on the whole been kind to the vines. Likewise, the new Beaujolais was expected to be the best for a number of years. Well, the product was released yesterday (Thursday 19 November) and a group of friends - all wine lovers - have sampled it at a Beaujolais Nouveau evening at a local Hostelry. And, the wine, in our collective opinion, has come up to expectation.

We sampled a Beauvoisie Primeur Beaujolais, which served lightly chilled, was very good indeed! It was smooth - described by one member of our party as ‘velvety’ - with a banana after taste. The wine was well structured and for a new wine had some body to it, lacking what can often be described as ‘thinness’ in this style of wine.

The other Beaujolais we tasted was a trumpeted Chateau de Corcelles Beaujolais-Villages 2009, which, despite its provenance and its claim to fame of its producers, was rather lacking in flavour and somewhat disappointing! However, again, the wine had a good structure, and perhaps it will be better for Christmas drinking after a little bottle aging!

So, why not sample the Beaujolais Nouveau for yourselves and let FROGSIDERS know what you think of the 2009 vintage!

FOOTNOTE TO BEAUJOLAIS ARTICLE