Talk-A-Vino

Beaujolais Nouveau Est Arrivé! 

Nouveau Est Arrivé!

Yes, it is the third Thursday in November, and it is an important day for those of us who still believe in the magic of wine – even if you shrug off the Beaujolais Nouveau as a marketing gimmick, you are still aware of the importance of the day, and whether you like it or not, consider yourself included 🙂

Every third Thursday in November and not a day earlier, Beaujolais Nouveau appears in wine stores around the world. Beaujolais Nouveau is the first wine of the new vintage in France, a young wine made to celebrate a new harvest. Georges Duboeuf is credited with making a centuries-old tradition into a marketing phenomenon more than 35 years ago – I’m not sure how much clout the celebration has today in the US, but it still has my attention. 

Let me expand a bit on this. I’m traveling this week for work in Orlando, Florida. In Florida, wine is sold everywhere, from pharmacies to supermarkets to specialty wine stores. I visited the ABC Wines store (one of the popular wine retailers here, similar to Total Wines) at the beginning of the week and asked if they would be selling Beaujolais Nouveau on Thursday. The lady was not sure and suggested to call on Thursday to find out. 

Today is that Thursday, and I started calling the store I visited on Monday. It took me four tries, but I finally got to a human. The lady on the phone said that they don’t have Beaujolais Nouveau at her store, but she was kind enough to check in the system and said that another ABC Wines store about 5 miles from the first one has it in stock. 

Next, I decided to check if Whole Foods might have the wine in stock. I got to the human relatively quickly, but then the human said that she would go and check if they had Beaujolais Nouveau in stock. After 15+ minutes of music on hold, I decided that I would simply have to drive to the store to find out myself after I was done with work. 

My first inclination was to drive to the ABC Wines location that was supposed to have the wine. After seeing that it would take me 35+ minutes to get there, I decided to try my luck with Whole Foods. Well, that didn’t work – no such luck. And now I was even further from ABC Wines which had the wine. Before giving up, I decided to make one more attempt – this time, with Trader Joe’s, which was only a mile away. A mile is not a mile in Florida, considering how overloaded the roads are and how long Florida traffic lights take… But nevertheless… 

I arrived at Trader Joe’s, and found nothing after scouring the wine section for a few rounds. But unlike Whole Foods, in Trader Joe’s there is always someone you can ask (a floor manager). When I asked about Beaujolais Nouveau, there was a short pause during which I decided that there will be no Beaujolais Nouveau for me today, but then I heard – “hmmm, I think we got something last night, let me check”. 2 minutes later, the floor manager showed up with the bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau, which put a huge (huge!) smile on my face, and I thanked him profusely but managed not to hug him. After all, I was going to taste Beaujolais Nouveau on the day when it was released!

Every year I say that the quality of Beaujolais Nouveau gets better and better. I guess if I would sum up those statements, this Beaujolais Nouveau should taste better than DRC… I don’t know if it gets better every year anymore – at this point, I believe Beaujolais Nouveau got to the point of consistently high quality, good enough that I’m happy to drink it every year – at least Georges Duboeuf’s rendition for sure – here are my notes.

2024 Domaine de Cornillac Beaujolais Nouveau AOP (12.5% ABV, $17.99)

Dark Ruby color

Dark fruit with earthy and herbaceous undertones, medium plus intensity, inviting

Tart fresh berries, crisp acidity, sour cherries, good balance, will be great with food.

8, excellent

 

Lastly, here is a little treat for you:

Every year, the bottles of Beaujolais Nouveau are adorned with specially designed labels, sometimes even multiple labels from the same producer for the same wine – I have no idea how that works. As I have been writing about Beaujolais Nouveau every year since this blog started, I can offer you a collection of labels starting with the 2010 vintage. As Georges Dubouef is the one and only producer I was able to taste every year, below is my little “show and tell” limited only to the labels of Georges Duboeuf wines I tasted throughout the years. In case you feel like it, you can even choose your favorite label and share it in the comments (sorry, this is not a competition so no prizes will be awarded). 

Here we go:

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015 #1

2015 #2

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

2024 Orange Nouveau

Beaujolais Nouveau 2024 has arrived,  and if you haven’t tasted one yet – what are you waiting for? Taste it now and let me know what you think! Cheers!