Beaujolais Nouveau: It's That Time of Year Again

Ok, so my travels prevented me from waxing poetic on the release of Beaujolais Nouveau this year, which came out, as it always does, on the third Thursday of November (the 19th), but with the stuff on stacked display across America, I think it's still relevant to comment on my latest tasting of it.

If you're not familiar with Beaujolais Nouveau, it's a red, Gamay-based wine (Gamay is a grape) from the Beaujolais region of Burgundy in France. It's released by producers on the same date every year -- about 6-8 weeks after the grapes are harvested. With very little time to make the wine, special fermentation methods are used (for you dorks -- it's carbonic maceration/ anaerobic fermentation). This means that the wines don't develop much flavor and are simple, fruity, and frequently nasty-ass.

This begs the question, why are people so giddy about these wines if they are kind of gross? A few reasons come to mind. The first, is that in a stroke of pure PR genius, the folks at Georges DuBoeuf created marketing hoopla around the release of this stuff, noticed that people bought into the concept, and have milked it every year since. The second, is that it's a very uncomplicated red wine that has some level of sophistication because it comes from the mecca of wine: France. The third, it's cheap and easy to say.

Whatever the reason for consuming it, I'm just happy that it's a time of year when France is celebrated and people are having fun with wine. The downside is that there are unbelievably great Gamay-based wines in the form of Cru Beaujolais (look carefully on the label for this and one of 10 village names that indicate quality) that I think people may overlook because the Beaujolais Nouveau is what they associate with the region. In any case, now YOU know and can spread the word or do a taste test to see for yourself.

Clearly I don't have a great opinion of the stuff, but if you want my take on Beaujolais Nouveau, here are some notes on America's most popular, Georges DuBoeuf 2009:

The Wine: Georges Du Boeuf, Beaujolais Nouveau
Where It's From: Beaujolais, France (in Southern Burgundy)
The Grape: Gamay
Vintage: 2009
Price: $7.99

Color: Dang, this thing is DARK. Purple and opaque with a plum ridge, this is just as close to looking like prune juice as you can get.

Smell: Let's see. Cherry cough syrup came to mind at first, then cherry ice cream, then some sort of green herb, like Italian parsley. It may have been a little like cherry chewing gum too. Not so much to my liking.

Taste: Thankfully, the wine tastes better than it smells. It's a bit like cherry Juicy Juice with a touch of unripe pear, and maybe raw fennel. It has a creaminess to it that I would characterize as Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia except that the ice cream lacks the wine's astringent, bitter taste. If B&Js replaced the fudge with the cherry stems it would taste identical.

I know I'm being harsh, so on the positive side, this is probably one of the better vintages of Beaujolais in that it had a good structure -- there were moderate mouth-drying tannins that I really found pleasant and a good foil to the creaminess.

Food: I'm at a bit of a loss. You won't find me saying this too much, because wine and food go hand in hand, but Beaujolais Nouveau is really just a sipping wine. For anything beyond maybe a hard cheese with a baguette, which can provide a salty complement to the overt fruitiness, I think this wine is best served a little chilled and alone.

Drink or Down the Sink?: If you can appreciate that this is a sipping wine that's just for fun then drink. If you want something good to enjoy, dump this and go for something else.