Beaujolais Nouveau Day – Uncorked and Delicious with Georges Duboeuf

Today is the day that Beaujolais Nouveau was celebrated in France with parties and fanfare.  The young Gamay based wine is fresh and fruity, in general, and meant to be consumed young.  Don’t confuse this with more serious Beaujolais, which can age and be quite deep and complex.  The Nouveau wine is for now, it’s for parties and it can be served chilled!  The word fun is a good one to use here.

The tradition of greeting the birth of Beaujolais Nouveau goes all the way back to 1864, and was created to honor the man who vanquished the grape moth in the region by scalding the vine stocks, Benoit Raclet.  We would love to be in France for the occasion, but will have to celebrate Monsieur Raclet’s feat with a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau at home.  In this case it is the Georges Duboeuf 2017 Beaujolais Nouveau, just shipped in and fresh as it gets.  There is no name in the wine world that is more recognizably associated with Beaujolais than Georges Duboeuf.  For thirty years he gave the traditional speech at the festivities in Romanèche-Thorins, to welcome the new wine.  We’ve tried many of the Duboeuf wines over decades, and you can read about some of his amazing 2015 Cru Beaujolais here.  This is not, however, Cru level wine.  Remember, this is supposed to be fresh and fruity, and fun.

We got the wine in this very day, in a package marked “Don’t Open Until November 16th”.  It sports a classic Duboeuf style label, which celebrates the art of a competitively selected artist.  In this case it is Ari Azzopardi-Robinson’s “Candy Coated” work.  This year also marks the 35th year in which Georges’ Beaujolais Nouveau has been sold in the United States.

What’s in the bottle?  Well, it’s purple and brilliant in color, has a bright nose of fresh red fruit, and carries that fruit to the palate.  Strawberries come through clearly, along with red currants.  There’s a touch of effervescence and tartness.  But this has a little depth to it as well.  It carries 13% alcohol, so it’s not all that lightweight.  It would do well with a little chill on it, but drinks fine at room temperature.  It’s fresh, fruity and fun, the three F’s of Beaujolais Nouveau.

Grab yourself a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau and celebrate, just for the fun of it.  This stuff is delicious.

A votre santé!

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