It’s Beaujolais Nouveau time
Thursday 17 November is Beaujolais Nouveau Day celebrating the first wine of the season which is just a few weeks after the harvest. Perhaps the most well-known producer of Beaujolais Nouveau is Georges Duboeuf, who is credited as one of the marketing geniuses behind the wine.
Most vintages should be consumed by the following May after their release; however Beaujolais Nouveau is meant to be drunk young. This fresh and fruity red is the result of a quick fermentation process that produces a tasty, clean wine that is enjoyed by palates the world over. The Gamay grapes that go into Beaujolais Nouveau are handpicked in the Beaujolais province of France. The wine actually originated about a century ago as a cheap and cheerful drink produced by locals to celebrate the end of the harvest season. Beaujolais Nouveau owes its easy drinkability to a winemaking process called carbonic maceration, also known as whole-berry fermentation. This technique preserves the fresh, fruity quality of the grapes without extracting bitter tannins from the grape skins.
Thanks to phenomenal weather and sunshine blazing throughout the entire harvest, both the pickers and the winemakers are extremely happy. The grapes they collected are beautifully ripe, plump and delightfully sweet. According to weather forecasters, this has been the warmest and sunniest month of September for 50 years. This year’s harvest has been nothing less than a delight.
As is always the case when the harvest comes late in the year, Georges Duboeuf’s winemakers have to make sure that the malolactic fermentation process begins as soon as the alcoholic fermentation draws to a close. 2016 is completely different from 2015 – this year’s vintage will offer everything we could want in a great Beaujolais Nouveau. These are delicious, lively and joyful wines, packed with charm. Beaujolais Nouveau lovers will adore them of course, but their sun-kissed charms could even win over those concerned about the development and stability of the vintage.
Georges Duboeuf’s famed Beaujolais wines are imported, marketed and distributed by Farsons Beverage Imports Company (FBIC) Limited, a member of the Farsons Group.