Celebrating Beaujolais Nouveau
In the ancient world, the Bacchanal and Dionysia festivals of Rome and Greece were wild and lascivious celebrations thrown to honour the various gods of wine and celebrate the maturing of wine from the last vintage.
Though these celebrations are of by-gone times, in the modern age we still celebrate the humble grape. Most of the festivals now are local traditions, a nod to the old days and thanksgiving for a successful harvest, the “festivities of San Mateo” held in Logrono, Rioja each September is a good example.
Outside of these traditional affairs is a growing trend to manufacture significant days to help promote certain styles and grape varieties. There are specific days for grapes from Albariño to Zinfandel with Muscadet and even “Sangria Day” in between. These “celebrations” are a marketing function of the winery or brand to help with promotion and sale. But, since they have to compete with so many other of these “world days”, their existence is unlikely to be fruitful.
In the UK, there is but one wine related “celebration” that remains: Beaujolais Nouveau. The day celebrates the release of the red wine made from the Gamay grapes of the Beaujolais region in France. The wine is fermented for just a few weeks before being traditionally released for sale on the third Thursday of November, which was, uncoincidentally, just two days ago.
Both the wine and the celebration reached the heights of their popularity in 1970s Britain. Nowadays, decades of pretty ordinary wines being produced by the region and the inevitable swing in public taste away from them to the more attractive, cheaper, fruit driven wines that have appeared from Australia, Chile and South Africa, have meant the celebration has lost its appeal. Beaujolais has also come under heavy fire in France in the last twenty years due to scandals over illegal blending or sweetening. The leading wine critic François Mauss termed the wine “vin de merde” due to what he felt was a scandalous neglect of quality by producers.
Nevertheless, Nouveau is my guilty and (not so) secret pleasure. The best analogy I can give is that it is like watching the early qualification rounds of a TV talent show; most of the time it’s truly hideous, but you just can’t help yourself from tuning in to witness both the proverbial “car crashes” and triumphs with equal glee.
What I find appealing in the wine is its easy fresh cherry and blackcurrant drinkability. Flavours achieved by fermenting the Gamay grape using a technique called carbonic maceration, which eliminates the bitter tannins. Originally, it was designed to be drunk only for a short time post-harvest so cellaring it will not improve it, please don’t try to. If you take it on face value, as you should, it’s a fun gargle once a year; a wine with no pretentions or snobbery.
My choice for this year is the Cuvee Keke 2020 from Kevin Descombes. Happy Beaujolais Nouveau!