Author: Dirk Chan
Every year on the third Thursday of November- on the 16th this year, the famous Beaujolais Nouveau is released with great fanfare to the world. Freshly made, the tradition and hype lead to much merry-making with fireworks and numerous parties where the wine is the star.
As usual, we are offering the Georges DuBeouf Beaujolais Villages in the painted bottle – $26.49, a wine we feel offers the best quality with the requisite beautiful bottle packaging. With better planning this year, we are asking all interested parties to purchase what you need by pre-ordering in advance, specifically pre-purchase deadline is midnight Wednesday, September 20. Please note that due to AGLC regulations, we are not able to (as in the past) go to the St. Albert warehouse on the day it is released but that we will only be able to have the wine in our store on our regular weekly receiving day, which in our case will be Wednesday, November 22nd after 2pm for pickup. Of course, we will have several cases for general sales but we cannot predict demand so we don’t want you to be disappointed – thus this pre-sale.
What is Beaujolais Nouveau? It’s a light, fruity red made from the Gamay grape. Strawberry, raspberry, cotton candy and banana on the nose with a light fruity palate and literally no tannins. Serve this slightly chilled. How is Beaujolais Nouveau made – well the grapes are harvested by hand but do not go thru the typical fermentation process. Rather, they go throug a carbonic maceration – instead of crushing the grapes and allowing the juice to ferment, carbonic maceration allows the whole grapes to ferment. The grapes are put into a vessel and the weight of the grapes will crush some of the bottom grapes which begin to ferment. The remainder of the juice still inside the uncrushed grapes will also ferment. The wine is pasteurized to prevent secondary malolactic fermentation. The whole process can be accomplished in about six weeks. This type of fermentation can produce a drinkable wine more quickly.
Beaujolais Nouveau is meant for current drinking, capturing its freshness and fruitiness, it is not meant for aging at all. So go ahead, place your order, and be comfortable in the knowlege you can send out invities to your Beaujolais Nouveau party and your wines will be there for your event!
2017 Georges DuBoeuf Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau (Beaujolais, France) – $26.49