beaujolais nouveau

it's that time again. yesterday was the day beaujolais nouveau landed on the shelves for another year of delicious drinking.

for those looking to learn more about this young, red wine, look no further:

Beaujolais Nouveau is a purple-pink wine that is particularly lightweight, even by the standards of Beaujolais. The method of production means that there is very little tannin, and the wine can be dominated by fruity, ester flavours of bananas and pear drops. These are enhanced by the frequent recommendation to serve the wine lightly chilled, at approximately 13°C (55°F).

Beaujolais Nouveau is intended for immediate drinking, and in general should not be kept for more than a year. On the other hand, it usually benefits from being left a few weeks to recover from the effects of bottle-shock - and in the Northern Hemisphere the weather is more suited to Beaujolais drinking in Spring than in the chill of November. However, this rather misses the point of Beaujolais Nouveau's "immediacy", and patient drinkers can buy standard Beaujolais AOC wines released the following year at lower prices without the Nouveau hype. The wines show definite variation between vintages, at worst the wines start to decline after Christmas, wines from a very good year might still be drinking well 12 months later.

Beaujolais Nouveau is made from the Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc grape, better known simply as Gamay. The grapes must come from the Beaujolais AOC, but grapes from the ten "cru" appellations are excluded. By law, all grapes in the region must be harvested by hand. This is because Beaujolais is made using carbonic maceration, whole berry fermentation which emphasizes fruit flavors without extracting bitter tannins from the skins of the grapes. The wine is then pasteurized to preserve the 'fresh' taste of the wine by preventing malolactic fermentation. The wine is ready to be drunk just 6-8 weeks after the harvest.

Around 49 million liters of Beaujolais Nouveau is produced each year, making up nearly half of the region's total wine production. About half of this is exported, with Germany and Japan the biggest markets, followed by the USA.

sante!