Happy Beaujolais Day!

On the third Thursday of November, the first vintage of the year is released. Beaujolais Nouveau is very young wine made from the Gamay grape in the Beaujolais region (part of Burgundy) of France. In the Beaujolais region as well as many other cities and towns in France and around the world, there are parties and festivals to celebrate the release. In New York and Miami, there will be Chefs and Sommeliers escorting some bottles into the city on motorcycles. While in Paris, a shipment will arrive by helicopter to the Eifel tower.

The wine itself is the youngest and freshest vintage to get released, this years harvest started on September 15th and the fermenting lasted for about 6-8 weeks. The grapes are harvested by hand and go through the “carbonic maceration” or whole berry fermentation. Whole clusters of grapes are loaded into vats and the fermentation actually takes place within the grape. This process produces very fruit forward and light wines without any tannins. This wine is meant to drink young and will not age very well. It should be drunk within 5-6 months of the release. So it is not a wine to buy and cellar! It is usually not very expensive and will also go great with all of the different foods involved with Thanksgiving dinners. It is not a coincidence that it is always release the week before Thanksgiving! It is best served slightly chilled, somewhere between 55-65 degrees. Don’t expect the a lot from this wine, it is not going to be very complex. It is just fun to taste the first release of the recent harvest and is usually a sign of what the 2008 French vintages might be like once they are released in a couple of years. If the nouveau is good, then usually the other French releases will be good as well. This was a tough year for grape growers in the region, it was a soggy summer and some growers lost their entire crops. It is the smallest crop since 1975.

So I hope everyone has a great Beaujolais Day! Pick up a couple bottles to enjoy tonight, this weekend and maybe for Thanksgiving. I know I will!

Cheers!