Wine Drinkers: Nouveau 2001?

Oily, you are a wise man.

Duboef is always a good pick for any kind of Baujolais.

Nothing, however, beats being in Paris when the season begins and going from wine bar to wine bar trying to find the best Nouveau.

Ah, memories.

 

Haven't tried this year's crop, but I do have a 2001 Louis Jadot just waiting for the right moment.

BUT...

The 2001 batch of Mark's Home brew Ale will be tapped this Sunday!

Three cases fermenting in the closet!

uummmmmm.....beer......

 

what's the deal with beaujolais? other than being the first wine of the season, is it stronger, better, no diff than a regular bottle? what's so special about beaujolais?

rH

 

<i>AT ONE MINUTE PAST MIDNIGHT on the third Thursday of each November, from little villages and towns like Romanèche-Thorins, over a million cases of Beaujolais Nouveau begin their journey through a sleeping France to Paris for immediate shipment to all parts of the world. Banners proclaim the good news: Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé! "The New Beaujolais has arrived!" One of the most frivolous and animated rituals in the wine world has begun. By the time it is over, over 65 million bottles, nearly half of
the region's total annual production, will be distributed and drunk around the world. It has become a worldwide race to be the first to serve to this new wine of the harvest. In doing so, it will be carried by motorcycle, balloon, truck, helicopter, Concorde jet, elephant, runners and rickshaws to get it to its final destination. It is amazing to realize that just weeks before this wine was a cluster of grapes in a growers
vineyard. But by an expeditious harvest, a rapid fermentation, and a speedy bottling, all is ready at the midnight hour. By French law, Beaujolais Nouveau is to be released no earlier than the third Thursday of November.

2001 Beaujolais Nouveau

2000 Vintage Report

"Ideal Weather Delivers Intense Color & Flavors." Beaujolais Nouveau began as a local phenomenon in
the local bars, cafes, and bistros of Beaujolais and Lyons. Each fall the new Beaujolais would arrive with much fanfare. In pitchers filled from the growers barrels, wine was drunk by an eager population. It was wine made fast to drink while the better Beaujolais was taking a more leisurely course. Eventually, the government stepped into regulate the sale of all this quickly transported, free-flowing wine. In 1938 regulations and restrictions were put in place to restrict the where, when, and how of all this carrying on.
After the war years, in 1951, these regulations were revoked by the region's governing body-the Union Interprofessional des Vins de Beaujolais (UIVB)-and the Beaujolais Nouveau was officially recognized. The official release date was set for November 15th. Beaujolais Nouveau was officially born. By this time, what was just a local tradition had gained so much popularity that the news of it reached Paris. The race was born. It wasn't long thereafter that the word spilled out of France and around the world. In 1985,
the date was again changed, this time to the third Thursday of November tying it to a weekend and
making the celebration complete. But wherever the new Beaujolais went, importers had to agree not to
sell it before midnight on the third Thursday of November.

Beaujolais Nouveau is about as close to white wine as red wine can get. It makes a great transitional wine for anyone wanting to move from white to red wines. On a more technical note, the wine is strictly speaking, more properly termed Beaujolais Primeur. By French and European rules, a wine released during the period between its harvest and a date in the following spring, is termed primeur. A wine released during the period between its own and the following years harvest, is termed nouveau. Well, enough of that!

It is a triumph of marketing and promotion, mostly due to the efforts of Georges Dubœuf. The largest
negociant in the region, he is a tireless promoter of Beaujolais and Beaujolais Nouveau. More than a fifth of his annual production, about 4 million bottles, is Beaujolais Nouveau. All in all, in the last 45 years, sales have risen from around a million bottles to more than 70 million bottles.

Apart from the fanfare, what makes Beaujolais Nouveau so popular? And especially in the U.S. where consumption of red wine is less than 30%? Simply put, Beaujolais Nouveau is as about as close to white wine as a red wine can get. Due to the way it is made-the must is pressed early after only three days-the phenolic compounds, in particular the astringent tannins, normally found in red wines, isn't there, leaving an easy to drink, fruity wine. This, coupled with the fact that it tastes best when chilled, makes for a festive wine to be gulped rather than sipped, enjoyed in high spirits rather than critiqued. As a side note, it makes a great transitional wine for anyone wanting to move from white to red wines.

Finally, the race from grape to glass may be silly, but half the fun is knowing that on the same night, in homes, cafes, restaurants, pubs, bars and bistros around the world, the same celebration is taking place. It hasn't the pedigree to be a classic wine, but it is always good. Any other opinion you may regard as
boorish and uninformed.</i>

 

I've never even heard of any of those you mentioned, but I am on my way to becoming a full-blown wine lover.

One of my personal favorites is:

Casa Lapostolle: Chilean Merlot

I also drink a lot of Ruffino Chianti, and Chiantis in general.

Some Australian Shiraz's are good to.


Umm, as you can tell I'm more of a red wine drinker. I like it better, because you can take your time drinking it, whites get warm too quickly. But, I'm not against drinking them.

 

so typically, you would drink the bottle soon after purchasing it?
what if you hang on to them? do they age as well as other wines?

rH

 

head,

they don't age as well, which is why they are only sold at this time of year. by the way, this is not to be confused with regular baujolais-villages, or other incarnates, ony the Nouveau. It is it's own breed and can taste very different than the others.

 

I'm sorry, but you have to be a real wine nerd or to enjoy the neuveau. The whole point is that the wines aren't finished. The only thing worse is Cab Sav table wines. Yum, Yum. 10x the tannin of normal table wine, with none of the potential of the good stuff. Blech.

Consider instead yummy Spanish wines like Marquis de Cassares (sp?). These are wines designed from the ground up to be true table wines. Winemaking skill from the French. Fun from the Spanish.

For California wines go for Bonny Doone. Either that or wait 10 years. Of course, nothing beats a 20 year old bottle of Chateau Petrus... if you've got a couple of grand to drop on a bottle of wine.

 

Well, you dress funny. You also overestate the poorer quality of Nouveau. I guess the whole country of France is stupid for having a big celebration and tasting all of the different houses, etc.

Also, it is "Marques de Caceras" (and you claim to know about wine! ). The reserva is much better than the regular.

 

I would like to point out that these are the same people who eat snails, frogs legs, and various internal organs from ducks. Just because they can make something good doesn't mean that they know what tastes good.

Probably the 10 packs of cigarettes that they smoke a day dull their taste buds to the point that the overwhelming quality of the wine actualty imparts some sense of taste on their abused taste buds.

Also, every year they make a (less) big deal out of tasting the new wines of Pomerol to determine what's going to be good 10 years from now. When those wines are new they taste not unlike paint thinner. The point of the nouveau is that it is a fortelling of that which is to come. That is why it is a big deal. Probably the fact that most people are at least capable of consuming one glass is the reason that it became popular.

And yes, I do dress funny.