Like clockwork every year on the third Thursday of November there is a French wine released called Beaujolais Nouveau. Beaujolais Nouveau is a young, short ferment and thus low alcohol wine made from the primary grape of Beaujolais, gamay. The marking of this day began as a local tradition in Lyon France back in 1951 as a celebration of the year's harvest in which much wine was consumed and sold inexpensively around the local area. This quickly spread north to the wine bars of Paris and across France.
Soon enough an enterprising producer named George Deboeuf capitalized on this event and turned it into a worldwide phenomenon by exporting the wine. It became the wine world's Cinco De Maya. Unfortunately the quality of his wine and others quickly deteriorated as the craze for anything from Beaujolais skyrocketed.
Well why are you talking about a wine that may or may not be total crap? Well fellow wine geeks be damned, I love the original spirit behind this celebration and thankfully some of these wines are actually really great. We just happen to have the best of the best by my main man of Morgon, Jean Foillard. Jean Foillard is among a small vanguard of natural wine producers in Beaujolais making some of the most beautiful wines in the world right now. I literally just opened a bottle and am drinking a glass right now and loving it. Its so cool to have this early window into the wines of one of my favorite producers.
We will be pouring the 2011 Jean Foillard Beaujolais Nouveau tonight Thursday through the weekend. We hope you will come join us!
Posts
