By Keith Dalbec
Photos By Rimas Zailskas
At this time of year, as the annual grape harvest is drawing to an end, the anticipated arrival of the Beaujolais nouveau has wine lovers marking off days on their calendar. The release of this freshly fermented wine from southern France is a harbinger of the holidays and a sign that the vines are now at rest. Vintage 2008 is official.
The Beaujolais countdown is hardly an ancient tradition, unless you consider World War II to be ancient history. Prior to that, the celebration of the season’s first drinkable wine was strictly a local affair — a post-harvest treat for the vineyard workers. But the astute marketing of the "new" wine to a wider audience has generated serious cash flow for vignerons in this hilly region in Burgundy. Races to bring the first of this early wine to Paris bistros were held soon after the end of the war, and weeklong events in the southern Beaujolais region were planned in several cities.
Today, people around the world mark the distribution of these eight-to-ten-week-old wines with great joy and revelry. Since 1985, the third Thursday of November — Beaujolais’ official release date — has become an international wine event. Posters announcing "Le Beaujolais nouveau est arrive!" kick off the festivities, but protocol demands that the arrival is not premature. All cases of the wine must be held in bonded warehouses, and may not be opened until one minute after midnight.
Although the Beaujolais nouveau wines are, by definition, young, they are made from the Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc grape, a very old cultivar. Other Gamays include the cru Beaujolais, made in ten designated prime sites, which are meant to age and acquire some credibility. The Beaujolais Village wines are good everyday country wines — the standard bistro fare of Lyon and Paris.
To soften their characteristic acidity, the Gamay grapes are prepared by a process called carbonic maceration. The grapes at the bottom of the vat are crushed by the weight of the grapes piled on top. The lower grapes ferment in a normal fashion, with yeast and sugar creating alcohol and carbon dioxide. The upper grapes are fermented when the carbon dioxide affects the juice in the cells, producing some pear drop and banana flavors. Those flavors are dominant in the young wine. Many celebrants assign descriptors from Jell-O to just plain grapiness.
So what is the big deal? It’s not the greatest wine in the world, and most people don’t take it too seriously. Which is part of the point. Wine writer Karen MacNeil has noted, "Drinking it gives you the same kind of silly pleasure as eating cookie dough."
It’s fresh, it’s bright and it’s slurpy. It’s like getting the first local peach, having the first soft-shell crab of the season or tearing into a yeast roll right out of the oven. Drinking nouveau is a primal human experience of indulging in immediate gratification.
You can plan your own Beaujolais nouveau soiree by picking up several bottles from two or three different producers such as Georges Duboeuf, Joseph Droughin or Kermit Lynch. Call the neighbors. Gather some cheeses, maybe some roast chicken and vegetables, perhaps some sausages and good crusty bread and have your own nouveau fling. Beaujolais is also great with turkey and all of the trimmings, so put aside a few more bottles to enjoy throughout the holiday season.
Although nouveau is intended for immediate consumption, a few extra weeks of rest can actually improve its flavor by counteracting "bottle shock" — the muting of the fruit flavors caused by jostling during shipping. In fact, you can continue to drink this wine well into the spring when it can be served slightly chilled.
If you develop a taste for Gamay, try some of the Beaujolais, Beaujolais Village or cru Beaujolais that are meant to hold up for two to five years. Cru Beaujolais such as Morgon, Chenas, Moulin-a-Vent, Brouilly, St. Amour, Regnie, Julienes, St. Amour and Fleurie are finely crafted wines from premier vineyards that have earned considerable respect in the wine world and can rival some of their cousins to the north in Burgundy.
Whatever you choose, remember that these are not trophy wines to be horded for some distant future event. They are festive and convivial, meant to be enjoyed in the here and now. And that’s certainly cause for celebration.
