While you’re busy shopping for cranberry sauce and turkey and pie, it’s easy to overlook November’s other foodie holiday. That’s right–tomorrow is Beaujolais Nouveau day!
Beaujolais Nouveau is released on the third Thursday in November, exactly one week before Thanksgiving Day. It’s an unofficial beginning to the festive season, and a great excuse to cut out of work early and drink fruity red wine by the bottle.
They say that you shouldn’t overthink Bojo-Novo…but we’re wine nerds here and we really can’t help ourselves. Here’s eight knowledge bombs to drop on your pals on Beaujolais Nouveau Day.
#1: Nouveau wines are a (real) historic tradition.
Skeptics sneer at Beaujolais Nouveau as a cheesy, 20th-century marketing gimmick–but that’s only part of its story. Early-bottled wines are a centuries-old agrarian tradition marking the end of the season. Farmers in France would make vatfuls of fresh, fruity wine to celebrate the harvest and supply their holiday feasts.
In fact, the practice of vintage-dating wines and cellaring them for decades is a relatively modern phenomenon. Before the science of preserving and aging wine was well understood, most wines were intended to drink soon after fermentation was complete.
“Vins de primeur” (early-release wines) of Beaujolais were being described and traded in the 19th century as barrels of new wine made their way down the Saône river and into the Lyonnais. The Beaujolais Nouveau appellation was officially codified in 1951.
The law set the standard for the style of wine that we enjoy today: Made from Gamay, carbonically macerated (more on that later), and sent to market young. It also settled on the wine’s precise release date: The third Thursday of November, which is just six to eight weeks after the harvest.
#2: Beaujolais is the place, Gamay is the grape.
Like most French wines, the name on the bottle tells you where it’s produced. Other regions can make “vins nouveaux,” “vins primeurs,” and “vins de l’année”–but only Beaujolais can make Beaujolais Nouveau.
The Beaujolais region sits in the center of France, just a little southeast of Burgundy. The climate is similar to Burgundy’s, though in general the wines are less prestigious and much less expensive.
Beaujolais Nouveau is made from the Gamay variety, a high-yielding black grape that is related to Pinot Noir. Gamay gives flavors of red fruits (strawberry, cherry, and raspberry), purple florals, and sometimes earth and minerals. Up to 15% Pinot Noir and/or white grapes are technically permitted to be used in wines from Beaujolais, but in practice this is almost never done.
#3: It’s big in Japan.
The UK was the center of the Beaujolais Nouveau craze of the 1980s, largely led by marketing efforts to introduce French wines to new customers across the Channel. Cheap and cheerful Nouveau paired well with England’s dreary winter weather. As soon as Beaujolais Nouveau was released, Brits would drive (or fly) over to wine dealers in Burgundy to bring home the season’s bounty.
London was a particular hotspot for Beaujolais Nouveau Day celebrations. Oz Clarke, in his History of Wine in 100 Bottles, describes the madcap derby to get the first case of Nouveau to the office of the Sunday Times to claim an annual prize.
England’s enthusiasm for the style has since waned, but Tokyo–another hub for Bojo festivities–is still going strong. Japan is the number-one export market for Beaujolais Nouveau, drinking around 5 million bottles per year. (The United States is in second place, and France keeps about 50-60% of the crop for itself.)
#4: Beaujolais is ideal for Thanksgiving and foodie parties.
With its bright fruity flavors, Beaujolais Nouveau pairs well with lots of traditional holiday foods. It complements roasted meats, cheese/charcuterie boards, and salty snacks like chips, dips, and nuts.
When gathering with people whose wine preferences you don’t know, a light-bodied red is always a good choice. Its low tannins and festive vibe make it approachable to guests who may not be experienced wine drinkers. Modest alcohol (usually 12-13%) keeps the boozy drama on a low setting, too.
#5: It’s a chill kind of red wine.
Forget what you may have heard about not chilling red wine. In the glass, Beaujolais Nouveau acts more like a white wine or rosé: Light, fruity, and best served slightly cold. Set your wine fridge to 50-55 degrees Fahrenheit for a perfect Beaujolais Nouveau party temperature.
No thermometer? No problem. Stash it in the refrigerator door and take it out a few minutes before serving.
#6: It’s made with a special fermentation process.
Banana, taffy, cinnamon, bubblegum, and strawberry bon-bons. These aren’t tasting notes that you’ll find in most red wines. But they are very common in Beaujolais Nouveau.
Why? Beaujolais gets its candy-like taste not from added flavoring, but from a specific wine-making process that uses whole clusters of fresh grapes. Instead of crushing the fruit to release the juice, the grapes bunches are chucked into a vat and allowed to ferment inside their skins until the berries burst.
The resulting chemical reactions produce different flavor compounds than conventional fermentation methods. (Google “carbonic maceration,” start explaining it to everyone at your next cocktail party, and watch people slowly back away from you in utter boredom.)
#7: Drink it–don’t save it.
Most inexpensive wines are meant to be consumed right away. That goes double for Beaujolais Nouveau. It casts a spell during the bleak midwinter, and loses its luster some time around Groundhog’s Day. It won’t hurt you, but the bright flavors dissipate quickly, leaving you with something that tastes kind of like a flat, wine-flavored soft drink.
I once found a bottle of three-year-old Nouveau that I had forgotten in the back of the pantry, shrugged, and drank it anyway–and well…don’t be like me. Drink up!
#8: There’s more to Beaujolais than Nouveau.
We adore Beaujolais Nouveau (once a year, anyway) and don’t care what the haters think. However, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention that the Beaujolais region produces some complex and age-worthy reds, too.
If you like Nouveau–and even if you don’t–make some time to check out the wines of Beaujolais designated high-quality villages (the crus). There are ten Beaujolais crus, which are not permitted to bottle their wines as Beaujolais Nouveau. Top-tier Beaujolais ranges from delicate and floral to thick and earthy, but is usually nothing like the tutti-frutti tipple that is Beaujolais Nouveau.
Love it or hate it, it takes a special wine to get its own day on the calendar. We’re on the way to our favorite shop which already has a case or two in stock. Say cheers! 👶🍷
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