When is Beaujolais Nouveau Day?
The arrival of Beaujolais Nouveau is a celebration! It’s the first wine of the vintage to make its way to the consumer. At midnight on the 3rd Thursday of November, they release Beaujolais Nouveau and exclaim “Le beaujolais nouveau est arrivé!” Beaujolais Nouveau has arrived! In Beaujolais and throughout France, fireworks light up the sky! Winemakers roll barrels of Beaujolais Nouveau down the streets to the shops. Everyone toasts to the end of harvest and for a successful vintage. By morning, millions and millions of bottles make their way to wine shops throughout the world. Truly a miraculous supply chain achievement. Beaujolais Nouveau Day is November 18, 2021. Honestly, I’ll take any reason to celebrate.
How is Beajolais Nouveau made?
Beaujolais Nouveau is made from the red Gamay grape in the Beaujolais (Bow-zhu-lay) region of France, just south of Burgundy. Winemakers in Beaujolais make pretty spectacular wines from Gamay, but they are most famous for the Nouveau which accounts for almost 50% of the total wine sales for the region.
The grapes for Nouveau are harvested less than 2 months before the wine is released. Generally speaking, red wine takes at least a year to make it to market. To make this red wine drinkable so early a few winemaking techniques are employed. Firstly, Beau (as all the cool kids call it) goes through carbonic maceration. This is a wine technique that ferments the wine in an anaerobic state (don’t worry too much about that but if you are dying to know, read this). The wine is pressed away from the skins after a very very short maceration period, as well. The result is a wine that is fresh, low in tannins, and super fruity….not too far off from grape juice, if we’re being honest.
Beaujolais Nouveau Food Pairing
Beaujolais Nouveau is light and fruity and pairs well will simple foods. It is released just in time for Thanksgiving in the United States. Beaujolais Nouveau is a great match with turkey and all the fixings. Beaujolais Nouveau also pairs well with light fare like grilled chicken, mild cheeses, even grilled fish. If you’re looking for a very chill way to celebrate Beaujolais Nouveau Day pair it with a simple charcuterie platter.
Serving Tips and Food Pairing for Beaujolais Nouveau
Beaujolais Nouveau needs to be drank within 6 months. It starts to go flat around Easter. It’s a great wine to have around the winter holidays. Serve Beaujolais Nouveau with a slight chill. You can pair it with pretty much anything that you’d traditionally think of with white wine like salads and sushi. It would also be pretty great as an aperitif wine will guests are nibbling on appetizers or charcuterie.
A cringeworthy story of me being a total wine snob
I went to wine school in Chicago, IL. In 2008, I was the buyer/manager of a wine/flower shop in the Ukrainian Village neighborhood. Now, you should know that Beaujolais Nouveau is so not cool if you’re like totally a wine expert, which I totally thought I was. November rolls around and a few suppliers asked if I wanted to get on the list for any cases of Beaujolais Nouveau. “As if!” Didn’t they know that I was a serious wine buyer at the ripe old age of 24?! I didn’t bring in a single bottle to sell.
On the morning of the third Thursday of November, I’m pretty hungover and just barely functioning when these 3 young women burst into the shop. “Hey, do you have any Beaujolais Nouveau?!” They were giddy and practically bouncing. “Ewww, no. Try the supermarket.” I was pretty proud of myself at the time. I showed them how cool I was, didn’t I? How superior my wine knowledge was? I even made a post about it on Facebook so my other wine friends could see that I know that Beaujolais Nouveau is beneath me. Around this time every year I get the “Memories” notification for that status update and I cringe every time.
A new appreciation for Beaujolais Nouveau
Last night, as I sat in bed thinking about writing this post today, I remembered that interaction with those super happy, super cute young ladies. God, how awful was I? Not only was I a buzzkill for them, but I also missed out on sales for my employers. Now that I’ve matured, hahaha, I’ve realized how much joy wine brings us. Beaujolais Nouveau Day is a jubilant occasion! We should celebrate and rejoice, “Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!”
In 202, Georges Duboeuf, the most famous producer of Beaujolais Nouveau, passed away. For that, and for all the other shit that happened, I’ll be the first in line to grab a bottle to celebrate life and wine this year. Cheers!
haha! one year many many years ago I picked some up for Thanksgiving. I think Caterina was in culinary school at the time and she was SO EMBARASSED that she barely wanted to sit next to me 🙂
It’s funny. So many of my somm friends have reached out from this article. A lot of them are having Beaujolais Nouveau for the first time in decades. 2020 has left us no chance but to find joy anywhere we can.
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