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Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!Nouveau means new in French, which is basically what these wines are. They are very young Beaujolais wines of lesser quality that are created to be drunk weeks, as opposed to months or years after the harvest, and are the first wines of the season. Beaujolais are made from the Gamay Noir a Jus Blanc grape variety. The Beaujolais Nouveau style started in the 1800's and has developed and grown since then. All grapes used in making wine in the Beaujolais region must be picked by hand, a law that is only enforced in one other wine region, Champagne. The Beaujolais region is 34 miles long and apx 8 miles wide with nearly 4,000 grape growers. Beaujolais Nouveau cannot be made from grapes grown in the 10 crus (great growths) of Beaujolais, only from grapes coming from the appellations (wines distinctive of a particular area) of Beaujolais and Beaujolais-Villages. Usually around one third of the crop each year is sold as Beaujolais Nouveau.
Technically Beaujolais Nouveau should be called Beaujolais Primeur since by French and European rules a wine released during the period between its harvest and some time in the following spring, is called primeur. A wine released during the time between its own and the following years harvest is called nouveau.
These wines are very fruity and light with a bit lower alcohol levels than most red wines; they should be drunk within a few months of bottling. Beaujolais Nouveau is designed for drinking, not fancy tastings with discussions on the wines flaws and merits, and most definitely this is not a wine for collectors to store and age. It is a red wine for white wine drinkers to enjoy, since it has many of the characteristics of a white wine.
