Every year, on the third Thursday in November, at 12:01 AM in the morning, the current year’s Beaujolais Nouveau is released. This is per French law, and is a very serious, and celebratory evening. The young wines are opened, and they have been made to drink immediately. These Gamay based wines tend to be fruity and fun, with an abundance of flavor. In recent years the overall quality has been excellent, and when we reviewed some of Georges’ Nouveau wines last year, we were surprised to find them more than just fresh and fruity. They were deep, and complex, and fruity. The Nouveau Villages was an all together wonderful wine, and well beyond what you would expect from these early releases. You can read more about that here.
This year we have the Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau and the Beaujolais Nouveau Rose to review. These are usually great wines for the holidays, and in fact frequently are sold out shortly thereafter. Let’s see what this year’s efforts produced.
2019 Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau – a wine made from 100% Gamay, this is sourced from the southern part of the 
Beaujolais region. Somewhat unbelievable, but factual, is that Frank Duboeuf and his team tasted over 5000 samples while crafting this wine. The traditional carbonic maceration, where the grapes are left to naturally ferment intact and in whole clusters, is used here. The wine all goes through malolactic fermentation as well. Nothing but stainless steel here. Our thoughts:
This is dark garnet in color, with a classic Gamay nose of cherry Kirsch. On the palate you get waves of cherry. It is medium bodied, with a nice finish. This would have been great with your Thanksgiving turkey, and could be great with your Christmas one. A pleasing, fruity and delicious wine. Probably best served slightly chilled. $12.99 and a good value.
2019 Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau Rosé – this wine is made using the direct press method, and the juice is fermented
in stainless steel vats. It is racked several times. This is intended to be fresh and vibrant. Our impressions:
This juice is light pink, with a bright nose of fruit. There is some cherry lingering underneath, but primarily a citrus palate dominates, including lemon and orange. There is a bit of a bubble gum flavor. Good acid makes this brisk, and it will actually stand up to a lot of foods. This we would definitely serve well chilled. Also $12.99, and a somewhat different, rosé alternative.
Georges Duboeuf has been making great Beaujolais for a long time. Their efforts cover the spectrum from the fresh and fruity Beaujolais Nouveau wines, to the complex, rich and age worthy Cru Beaujolais wines. If you think that Beaujolais is only a light, fruity and simple wine, then you have a lot to learn. This is a good place to start.
A votre santé!
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