Beaujolais Nouveau, the wine we love to hate
28 November 2024
Take out the glasses, polish your corkscrew! It's that time of the year. The latest vintage of Beaujolais Nouveau went on sale a week ago, like every third Thursday of November for more than 70 years.
This red wine has the particularity of being aged less than three months in barrels, making it a very young wine. While the French still won't take it seriously due to its easy-drinking nature, it has become extremely popular abroad. If the Japanese are leading importers, known for their luxurious custom of pouring some bottles into baths, Americans associate it with Thanksgiving, as the release date coincides. Half of the Beaujolais produced every year is exported.
The real strength of Beaujolais Nouveau is how it became a tradition through clever marketing. In the 1950s, Beaujolais winemakers wanted to sell their young wine earlier than usual. They challenged a rule that delayed wine sales until December and got permission to release theirs just weeks after harvest. They then added the term "nouveau" (new), picked a specific release date just for their wine, and turned it into a festive event.
 | Juliette Ovigneur We French people love to mock Beaujolais Nouveau for its fruity banana flavour and its "watered-down" taste. It's not considered a fine wine here. But let's be honest, we still drink it, before roasting it on Twitter – and this year Bluesky. |
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