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Beaujolais Nouveau
Thursday November 21 marks the official release of Beaujolais Nouveau this year. It happens annually on the third Thursday of November.
This tradition in the Beaujolais region of France dates back to the 1800s, and though Nouveau wines are made all over the world, in Beaujolais the third Thursday of November became popularized by the producer Georges Duboeuf. Or so the wine myth goes.
At one time Beaujolais did not enjoy the reputation it has now, and in an effort to revitalize the region, Georges Duboeuf decided to make a celebration of the the new wines of the vintage by selling them as soon as they had been fermented.
Typically, after wines are fermented they spend some time in oak or another vessel before being bottled and sold, which usually happens in the spring season following the fall harvest. In some cases, if wines spend time in oak, they are generally released the second spring after harvest.
But Duboeuf saw an opportunity to get wines to market quickly and celebrate the end of harvest at the same time. This also helped with much-needed cash flow and allowed everyone in the Beaujolais region to welcome visitors with their celebrations.
It used to be that the wines could not physically be released by the wineries until the third Thursday of November. Over time these rules were relaxed and by the 2010s wines were eligible to be shipped to international markets earlier so that they could be sold and available to the public at 12:01 a.m. on the third Thursday of November. And so this year you will be able to enjoy them here on the 21st.
Maybe you have seen these bottles on the shelves in the past, particularly Duboeuf’s, which typically have pastel coloured labels that are changed each year. Duboeuf also makes patterned ties out of the labels in case a certain year of Nouveau wines really excites you and you feel compelled to wear the label around your neck. Clever marketing to be sure.
Make no mistake, Beaujolais Nouveau wines are by no means serious. They are usually high in acid (which is typical of gamay noir, but accentuated without proper aging) have little tannins and no complexity. These are bright and zippy, fun wines, made to drink ASAP and ideally chilled.
But they also act as a gateway wine to the region. If you judged an entire region by one annual marketing event, you would miss so much more.
Beaujolais wines can be wonderfully exciting, tremendously tasty and often great value. Although there is a small amount of chardonnay grown in the region, most bottles you find from Beaujolais are made from gamay noir.
For something a little more serious and closer to home, you can find unique expressions of gamay noir in Prince Edward County. Hubbs Creek has a 2023 in barrel and a 2024 rose. Sugarbush, Casa Dea, The Grange of Prince Edward County also make some. And Broken Stone produces a still and a sparkling version.
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