Beaujolais Nouveau: A reason to celebrate

This article originally appeared at Mo’ Vino Journey.  Please follow them on Facebook and Twitter for more great wine content.

Each year, something fun and special happens on the 3rd Thursday of November. This is the day that the Beaujolais Nouveau is released to the world. This is a young wine that comes from the Beaujolais region of France and is made from the Gamay grapes. What makes this wine so unique is that it is fermented for just a few short weeks before it is bottled and released to the world. This practice of releasing a young wine has been done for a very long time to celebrate the end of harvest.

The Beaujolais AOC was first established in 1937 and the first original release for the new wine was the 15th of December in the year it was harvested.  That rule was relaxed in 1951 to allow release on the 13th of November. Selling young wine just weeks after harvest was a good way to celebrate as well as interject some cash back to the wine producer’s pockets, just a short time after harvest. The UIVB or the Union Inerprofessionelle des Vins du Beaujolais saw this as an opportunity to market the Nouveau wine and a race was formed to Paris to deliver the new wines to market. Each year, this race grew and with it, so did the interest in the wine that by the 1970’s, this was in international event. In 1985 they made the official release day the 3rd Thursday in November as a way of continuing the celebration and parties into the weekend.

The popularity of the idea Beaujolais Nouveau has spread to many other countries that now have similar celebrations but none have gained as much notoriety as that of the French celebration. Spain and Italy are just a couple of the countries that have their own nouveau styled celebrations for their wines. Many U.S. winemakers have jumped in on the idea of having nouveau wines as well, but the major anticipation still surrounds the Beaujolais wines. Each year in France, there are tons of celebrations and though Beaujolais Nouveau sales have declined, it is still much anticipated around the globe. I will be attending a tasting on Beaujolais Nouveau Day and I encourage you to look around your region and find a way to get in on your local festivities. If you indulge a bit in Beaujolais Nouveau, you may find reason to celebrate.

Where to Celebrate
Beaujolais Nouveau Day Celebration
33 Wine Shop and Bar
1913 Park Avenue
Thursday, 3:30pm – 1:00am