A Vine reader asked me if I was going to write about thisyear's crop of Nouveaux, so let me give you the backstory behind this wine andwhy its "arrival" is such a big deal before I get to them.
Beaujolais Nouveau are made from the same grape as regular Beaujolaisgamay. These wines are fermented extremelyquickly through a process called "carbonic maceration." In layman'sterms, they throw the grapes into the fermenter whole, and the weight of thegrapes does the crushing. Most of the fermentation happens in the skin. Anentire batch can be fermented in as little as three days.
The tradition of drinking this young wine started in thevillages of the Beaujolais region, wherepeople would draw jugs of wine out of the fermenting casks. This wine was tohold folks over until the actual Beaujolaiswas ready, several months later. This "first batch" of wine was agreat excuse for a party, and villages would have festivals surrounding thesharing of this new wine. Eventually, word of this little tradition got outsinceeveryone wants to be festive. A rush started to see who could get wines outfirst. Eventually, the French government stepped and in 1951, this wine wasmade an "official" varietal -- with a release date of November 15th.Georges Dubeouf came along in the 1960's and started to publicize the releaseof the wine widelyand it's now become a worldwide, rather than a regional, dayof excitement.
Beaujolais are light winesto begin with, but Beaujolais Nouveau takes this to a whole other level. Theseare extremely young, uncomplicated wines. They are not really made to go withfood. As I said, they're made to be festival wines, drunk from jugs as peopledance around in the streets. You certainly don't have to think much about howthese taste.
The official release date is now the third Thursday in Novemberwhichwas November 19th this year. This date obviously coincides withThanksgiving, so people buy this wine to take to their familial repast. Thisyear, I could only find two Beaujolais Nouveaux in my local stores. Here theyare:
Georges DuBeouf 2009 Beaujolais Nouveau – the most ubiquitious BeaujolaisNouveau on the market. DuBeouf shells out plenty of cash to assure that theworld wine market is properly flooded with the Nouveau. You can find thiswine…well…everywhere. The nose is very light and fruitythe usual cherry notesof a Beaujolais are in there somewhere. Thefirst taste doesn't give you very much, but it expands to a whisper ofbubblegum flavor and a little fruitiness. I guess you could say that there'ssome cherry flavor there with a little bit of licorice. Finish is dry with alittle fruit. The body is very light. You could basically drink this like waterif you were so inclined. You can findthis for $9-11 anywhere.
Joseph Drouhin 2009 Beaujolais Nouveau – this is a darker and fuller winethan the DuBoeuf and seems much more like a wine that could be more than simplyslugged back. Some actual cherry flavors on the nose. The Drouhin tastes alittle more "done" than many Nouveaus I've tried. There's a slight smokyflavor on the palate to start, but that turns to tart cherries with some actualstructure like you'd find in a regular Beaujolais.This wine finishes dry but not tannic. I've actually run into these nouveauxfor a few years now and they've actually given an idea of how the wines will bein a year or two. Watch for the 2009 Drouhin when it's released. I have afeeling you won't be sorry. This will run about $12-14.
That said…
I'll be honest…Beaujolaisnouveau is not my favorite wine. I think there's really not much to this winebutas you know, uncomplicated wines don't scare me off. However, uncomplicatedwines shouldn't cost you an arm and a leg. Beaujolais Nouveau used to be muchmore inexpensive. However, since the release has become an event -- and sincethere's money to be made, the price has gone way up.
There are some wine aficionados who say that the Nouveautruly holds the secrets of the upcoming year's vintage. That may bebut you'rebetter off waiting for the actual release of the "real" wine. In myopinion, there's no reason to spend $12 on a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau ifyou can spend $8-10 on a Beaujolais-Villages (or heck, drop the $14 on a cru!)and get a far superior wine for your money. But don't just take my word for it.Do a side-by-side tasting and see for yourself.
