November brings many things to look forward to. The chilly weather sets in as winter approaches. It is the beginning of the “official” holiday season with the American celebration of Thanksgiving. And the start of holiday eating and drinking.
There is a start of another celebration that also happens in November and has become a bit of a worldwide cult. It is one of the most animated and is celebrated with great madness. Every year, at the stroke of midnight on the third Thursday of the month, a jovial hullabaloo begins with the release of millions of cases of Beaujolais Nouveau. It is perhaps the best known of all French wines.
With nearly 75 million bottles spread around the world, from Tokyo to Los Angeles and everything in between, the release of the fruity juice is one of the most anticipated happenings in the wine world. Countries fight to be the first to receive their allocation and taste the new harvest. All measures will be taken and here in San Diego, in just a couple of weeks, you will see the stacks of cases in your local supermarkets.
The festival and release lasts only three days and when it’s over, it’s over until the next year. Gamay is the grape that makes this purple-pink wine with little structure and pails in comparison to its neighboring Burgundies. Gamay is an early ripening grape and it is one of the only wines in the world that is bottled only weeks after its harvest. Due to its early bottling, it produces a simple fruity wine, with very low tannins and should be drunk slightly chilled.
The grape itself is rarely grown anywhere else in the world and more than 75 percent of the wine grown in Beaujolais is exported making it one of the biggest exports in the world. It is considered to be a cash crop and has made the region very prosperous.
It is amazing to think that in just a few weeks the wine goes from clusters of grapes on a vine, to a speedy fermentation and even faster bottling; all to be ready before the big hand strokes the midnight hour on that specific Thursday. In fact it actually is against the law to release the wine prior to that time and day! Even worldwide importers have to agree that they cannot sell it before the specified release date.
So why does this wine cause such a worldwide race to get it and drink it? The fury began almost a century ago in little villages of Beaujolais, Macon and Lyons in France. The grape produces such high yields that the juice needed to go into mass production, not to mention mass consumption. Jugs and bottles began to be past around in local bars, street-side cafés and quaint little bistros. The quick harvest and production soon gained celebrity status and in 1951, after regulations took place, Beaujolais Nouveau was born.
It didn’t take long after that for the word to spread about this easy drinking wine. Everyone wanted a piece of it and so the race began. Due to that popularity, in 1985 the wine’s official release date of the third Thursday was set by the regions governing body, Union Interprofessional des Vins Beaujolais.
Probably one of the most popular and noticeable producers is Georges Duboeuf. He is considered to be the king of Beaujolais. No one else has helped raise the profile of Beaujolais sine the ‘60s to the extent that this wine merchant has. Ironically, his best cuvee’s number among the most impressive Beaujolais anywhere and the colorful bottles we see rank among the worst.
So even though Beaujolais is a wine without tannin, without structure and without real concentration, its charm and character are in its youthful, perfumed and immediately appealing fruit. It is soft and should be utterly delicious with all your holiday meals. Since this wine will not benefit from any type of aging, any and all that you buy should be consumed before Christmas time. Only by drinking the wine as fast as it was bottled will you enjoy the true grace of the wine.
This holiday season go and explore and enjoy the fury known as the release of Beaujolais Nouveau. The worldwide celebration is coming, and soon all the stores will have the freshly bottled juice. Grab one, two, three or a case. They will go fast and you wouldn’t want to be the only one in the world not enjoying the wine next week.
insider scoop
Ten interesting facts about Beaujolais Nouveau
• Beaujolais [BOE-zjoh-lay] Nouveau is always released the third Thursday of November.
• The region of Beaujolais, north of Lyon, is 34 miles long from north to south and seven to nine miles wide.
• All the grapes in the Beaujolais region must be picked by hand. These are the only vineyards, along with Champagne, where hand harvesting is mandatory.
• Gamay (Gamay noir Jus Blanc) is the only grape permitted for Beaujolais.
• Beaujolais Nouveau cannot be made from grapes grown in the 10 crus (great growths) of Beaujolais – only from grapes coming from the appellations of Beaujolais and Beaujolais-Villages.
• Beaujolais Nouveau owes its easy drinkability to a winemaking process called carbonic maceration, also called whole berry fermentation.
• Beaujolais Nouveau is meant to be drunk young. In average vintages it should be consumed by the following May after its release.
• Serve Beaujolais Nouveau slightly cool, at about 55 degrees Fahrenheit – the wine is more refreshing and its forward fruit more apparent than if you serve it at room temperature.
• Approximately 1/3 of the entire crop of the Beaujolais region is sold as Beaujolais Nouveau.
• The region of Beaujolais is known for its fabulous food. The famed Paul Bocuse Restaurant is just minutes from the heart of Beaujolais, as is Georges Blanc’s eponymous culinary temple. This quintessential food wine goes well with either haute cuisine or Tuesday night’s meat loaf.
