Beaujolais nouveau 2012

Despite a very low harvest due to the weather, the famous Beaujolais wine is expected today Thursday 15^th on the tables. The harvest in Beaujolais this year has been perhaps the lowest production in 10 years as a result of the poor spring weather. However, producers have insisted that the small grapes of this year mean concentrated flavour, thus more complex 2012 wines.  

 

True connoisseurs and simple enthusiasts are all eagerly waiting to taste and criticize the Beaujolais nouveau 2012.  

 

Why is the Beaujolais nouveau so awaited for?
The appointment is taken each year the third Thursday of the month of November. This date is indeed marks the end of the winemaking and start of the marketing of this wine. While previously no wine could  be sold prior to December 15, several wine-growing unions have lobbied so that some of them can be released before this date. Thus was born the "Beaujolais nouveau" name in 1951. Then, the exact date of authorization was set in 1985 at the third Thursday of November for practical reasons: not too close to the weekend or on 11 November. Since then, every year on this date, red wine lovers flock to celebrate and enjoy the vintage of the year.

 

What makes a good Beaujolais? 

The Beaujolais is a young wine.  A  good Beaujolais would be made from a natural yeast. 

 

 

 

How much does it cost a bottle of Beaujolaisnouveau?

 

The Beaujolais is a wine averagely priced between 4 and 9 euros.

The Beaujolais in Numbers:

• In France, the three regions that consume the most of this wine are the Paris region with 9 800 hl (1.3 million bottles), Eastern region (7 400 hl or 990 000 bottles) and Central - East (6465 hl or 862 000 bottles).
• Internationally it is Japan, North America and Germany the countries that consume the largest quantities of Beaujolais.

The Beaujolais Nouveau

 

The wine we were all waiting for...

Finally the 18th of November arrived, the day when corks pop around the world as lovers of Beaujolais nouveau mark the start of a new French vintage by enjoying large amounts of the popular drink.

At one past midnight on the third Thursday of every November over a million cases of Beaujolais Nouveau start their journey from little villages through a sleeping France to Paris for immediate shipping to all over the world.  For a few short days, banners everywhere proclaim “Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrive”

Once a local tradition, has now become an international race to bring the Beaujolais Nouveau to markets all over the world.  When you read this more than 65 million bottles representing nearly half the region’s total production, will have been distributed and drunk around the world.

 

  

What is so special about the Beaujolais Nouveau?

When the tradition started, the wine producers of the area created a “wine of the year” to celebrate the end of the harvest.  The wine was only fermented for a few weeks, as was meant for immediate consumption.  But then just before the Second World War it was established an AOC for the Beaujolais Nouveau and the release date for the Beaujolais Nouveau became fixed each year. 

With time, wine producers began to see the marketing potential of the Beaujolais Nouveau and by the 1970s its release and the race to get the first bottles to Paris became a national event.  The race to deliver the first bottles soon spread all over the country and to other European countries.  In the 1990s the race extended to Asia and North America.  The race to deliver the first bottles is so tight that one year even a Concorde was used to deliver the Beaujolais Nouveau. 

Is a Beaujolais Nouveau “that” especial? 

Not really...  Many people agree that the Beaujolais Nouveau comes from the region’s worst vineyards; a wine barely removed from the fermentation vat; a wine that is just pleasantly tart. 

However, I still run to my nearest wine provider yesterday to be able to get a few bottles of the Beaujolais Nouveau 2010.  I was a week late last year and I couldn’t find a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau left in my local wine provider’s cave.  I didn’t make that mistake this year, I was there right on the spot the 18^th of November, I had a try at several bottles and came out triumphantly with my load of Beaujolais Nouveau ready for this weekend degustation party.

I find that it is not much about the taste but more about the game.  I am sure plenty of us will still enjoy getting caught up in the ritual.   It is always fun to meet at the local restaurants and bars to try a glass of Beaujolais Nouveau with friends.  Cheers! 

Wine: its therapeutical uses:

Wine has been used to relieve conditions such as anaemia, hypertension, hypotension, rheumatism, gout, obesity, dyspepsia among many other things. Unlike modern medical advice, the French used to drink wine even during pregnancy due to the richness in minerals of certain wines such us the rouges from Bordeaux.

You can learn more about wine's therapeutical uses here.