By LESLIE CRAMER Special Writer
Give it up — surrender to the hype. The hype of the Nouveau rage, that is. By this point, you’ve likely seen posters and advertisements in your local wine shop, wine bar or liquor store announcing “Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!” What all the fanfare is about is this — at precisely one minute past midnight, on the third Thursday of November, is the time and date the French government has deemed as law for the release of the new crop of the gamay grapes, the grapes that make Beaujolais Nouveau.
In 1938, enterprising vintners in the Beaujolais district of France launched the Nouveau campaign. From there it became a competition to be the first to serve this new wine of the harvest. To add to the merriment — in the race to be first — the wine was transported by truck, helicopter, motorcycle, rickshaw, runners on foot, elephant, hot air balloon and even the French Concorde in the race to get it to its final destination.
How aged is this wine? Please. The year’s harvest of the grapes begins around the second week in September with bottling beginning in mid-October. The finished bottles began their journeys to their final shipping destinations last week, to parts all around the globe. Shipments were booked on practically 300 flights to America, with another 300 or so to Japan, as well. More is sent off still by way of cargo boats, missing the grand kickoff, but due in United States ports around the beginning of December. This new wine is rushed into the market just weeks after the grapes are picked.
No other wine is as simultaneously adored and criticized. The gamay noir grapes that make up the wine are so fresh they taste like they are just off the vine — and virtually are. Detractors have called it Kool-Aid wine, those who enjoy it gulp it for what it is — young and fruity, lacking complexity or pretense.
The fanfare surrounding Beaujolais Nouveau has created a media blitz, though it remains perplexing why the grapes (wine) from the district’s worst vineyards — barely removed from the fermentation vats — have become an international sensation. Beaujolais Nouveau owes its easy drinkability to the wine-making process called carbonic maceration. This technique preserves the fresh and fruity quality of the wine. Thousands of bushels of the gamay grape are dumped into large steel fermentation tanks. The grapes settled on the bottom of the vats are crushed by those above them. As their juice ferments, it releases carbon dioxide, which speeds up the fermentation process to the grapes on top. Practically as soon as the new wine is stabilized, it gets bottled and shipped out. Forget the long lay-down in the cellar.
Beaujolais itself has suffered an identity crisis, due in part to the notoriety of Beaujolais Nouveau. Its reputation as a young, unassertive easy-to-drink wine may give off a less-than-serious air to both better growers and connoisseurs of the grape. Beaujolais Nouveau is meant to be drunk young — very young; it will already have passed its prime by May of the next year. But in excellent-vintage years the wine may live much longer and can be enjoyed right up until the next harvest year rolls around.
Beaujolais Nouveau should be served cool, around 55 degrees. Don’t just sip this wine — feel free to quaff (gulp). It is to be enjoyed in high spirits, rather than reviewed or critiqued. Consider it a potential great segue for your traditional holiday meal, a nice change from the usual chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, or heavier red. And for those not willing to fork over a fortune: You can usually pick up a bottle for under $10.
Maybe the most fun part of the Nouveau craze is knowing that on the same night, in cafes, bars, restaurants, bistros and homes, the same celebration is taking place all around the planet. Don’t fight the excitement — join up with oenophiles around the world. Share a glass, bottle, and a smile.
Just an afternote: Many environmentalists are outraged by the carbon footprint Beaujolais Nouvueau will leave behind. Some innovative winemakers in California have tried different ‘routes’ for the wine; some have cultivated a grape on U.S. soil that will hopefully measure up to their French counterparts. Others are trying wines bottled in high-tech plastic, with the gist to be environmentally conscious.
Hats must be tipped to these innovative winemakers for attempting to do their part in greening the planet. Quality of these wines? The jury is still out …
À votre santé!
Leslie Cramer has worked in many aspects of the wine industry and has received awards for her writing. She was born in North Jersey, raised on the Shore in Bay Head, and has lived in the Virgin Islands for 25 years.
