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Beaujolais Nouveau Est Arrivé! 2025 Edition
Beaujolais Nouveau Est Arrivé!
Yes, it is the third Thursday in November, and you know what it means! It is time to celebrate the new harvest. The 200-year-old tradition, taking its roots in the 1800s, became the “official” celebration of the new harvest 40 years ago, claiming the third Thursday in November as an official celebratory date. This is the day when the first wine of the new harvest appears in the wine stores around the world, to the great enjoyment of the wine aficionados and geeks.
For the 15 years this blog has existed, I have made an effort not to miss a single Beaujolais Nouveau celebration, and I have been successful so far. Considering that for the past 3 years I was traveling over this special week, the effort was real – you can read about my Beaujolais Nouveau struggles in France in 2022 and Florida in 2024. This year 2025 has not been an exception since I’m currently in Dallas, Texas.
Since the beginning of the week I checked a few times that there are wine stores within walking distance of the hotel where I’m staying, so my plan was to walk to the store on Thursday and get a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau. Remembering past year’s experience, I decided to call ahead, which proven to be a challenge. One store had some google voice setup telling me to leave a message. Again no answer in the second store. Someone answered my call in the third store, but the person clearly never heard of Beaujolais Nouveau, so after a few minutes of back and forth I understood that this would not work to my favor.
The next best hope was Total Wine – but the store was 1.8 miles away, I had no car and I was in the meetings. Then it dawned on me that Total Wine has the same day delivery service, and life all of a sudden improved. I found out that Total Wine had two Beaujolais Nouveau available, so the order with delivery was quickly placed (delivery was only $4.99 for two bottles).
I was hoping that the wine could be just left with the hotel staff, but the delivery lady called me to tell me that I have to come and pick up the wine in person, as I need to sign for it, and the lady needs to make sure that I’m not drunk already. Well, I guess it is Texas after all (say it in the voice of “This is Sparta!!”).
Luckily, I set up the delivery window during my lunchtime, so it was not a problem to meet the driver and get the wine.
After my meetings ended, there was the time to taste the wine. Attention: spoiler alert! Every year, I say that the quality of Beaujolais Nouveau gets better. 2025 was no exception. 2025 Beaujolais Nouveau was not just better, but it was much better!
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 only producer I was able to taste every year, below is my little “show and tell” display limited to the labels of Georges Dubouef 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:
Beaujolais Nouveau 2025 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!
[Beaujolais] Nouveau Est Arrivé! 2024 Edition
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.
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:
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!
Beaujolais Nouveau Est Arrivé! 2023 Edition
Beaujolais Nouveau Est Arrivé!
Well, that happened almost 3 weeks ago, but I like the sound of “Beaujolais Nouveau Est Arrivé!”, so let me keep this title.
This might be discouraging, but I don’t have much new to say about the subject compared to what I typically say every year when I’m writing about Beaujolais Nouveau:
– originally more of a marketing gimmick, the Beaujolais Nouveau release became a worldwide celebrated phenomenon, largely thanks to the efforts of Georges Duboeuf, prominent wine negociant and producer.
– the wine is produced from the grape called Gamay in a French region called Beaujolais, neighboring ultra-famous Burgundy, from the grapes of this year’s harvest. Harvesting for the grapes for the Beaujolais Nouveau started on September 1st, so the wine made it from the grapevine to the bottle on your table in a mere 10 weeks.
– this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau was better than the last year. Note that I have said this literally every year for the past 5-7 years (or longer), so at this point you probably expect that this wine drinks at the level of DRC (my saving grace – I never had DRC, so I have no idea how far off I am).
If you want to learn more about Beaujolais Nouveau 2023, here is a link to a good article in Wine Spectator.
But seriously, the wine was simply excellent:
2023 Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau AOP (13% ABV, $14.99) has a bright ruby color, a restrained nose of the freshly crushed fruit (no bubble gum, no hard candy – just a pure, pleasant vinous nose). A well-composed core of dark berries on the palate, raspberries and cherries, firm, tight, good structure (how about that structure – it is Beaujolais Nouveau I’m talking about here!) with good acidity and good balance. Drinkability: 8/8+
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. Below is my little “show and tell”. By the way, in case you feel like it, 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:
Beaujolais Nouveau 2023 has arrived, it is a reasonably priced, festive, and tasty wine. If you had one, I would love to hear your thoughts about this wine. If you haven’t tasted one yet – what are you waiting for? Cheers!
Beaujolais Nouveau 2022 Edition
I would typically start this post with Beaujolais Nouveau Est Arrivé! and go out of my way to have the post out on the third Thursday in November when Beaujolais Nouveau is officially released. As this is posted a few days after the third Thursday in November, it is a bit late to announce its arrival.
As luck would have it, I was in France on that third Thursday. While at the hotel restaurant in Toulouse, I asked the waitress if they had Beaujolais Nouveau available – and the answer was a short “no”. When I mentioned that we were supposed to celebrate the arrival of the Beaujolais Nouveau, I got a shoulder shrug back, clearly stating “I have no idea what you are talking about”.
Beaujolais Nouveau is a multifaceted phenomenon. Firstly, it is the wine of a new harvest. Secondly, it should be an indicator of the quality of the vintage. Thirdly, it is a celebration of the new harvest, universally supported throughout the world in the past years. And fourthly, many consider Beaujolais Nouveau a marketing gimmick and simply refuse to get anywhere near that bottle.
I like traditions. As such, I’m happy to celebrate the arrival of Beaujolais Nouveau on the regular basis, simply celebrating the wine of the new harvest. How far back this tradition goes and whether it was really created as a marketing ploy to sell mediocre wine is not something that concerns me. We always need more things to celebrate in our lives, and Beaujolais Nouveau offers this perfect celebration opportunity.
2022 Beaujolais Nouveau seems to stand out in a few different ways. On the positive side, I like the label – it is different from the previous years and I find it very elegant. On the negative side, we have price and availability.
I just went through all of the Beaujolais Nouveau notes from the past years – practically every year I had 2, 3, or sometimes 4 wines to taste. From 2010 until 2020, Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau was priced from $8.99 to $10.99. In 2021, it cost $12.99. In 2022 it became $15.99. I always buy my Beaujolais Nouveau wines at the same store, so the pricing is consistent. I understand the inflation, but a 30% increase from the last year? That is a little obnoxious. And there was only one Beaujolais Nouveau available this year. If this wine is a harbinger of the things to come, it doesn’t make me feel very good.
So how was the wine, you ask?
2022 Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau AOP (13% ABV, $15.99) had a dark garnet color, very concentrated. Bright and inviting nose of the freshly crushed fruit. The palate was exuding fresh raspberries and blackberries, all tightly packaged with a good amount of energy and supported by crisp acidity. Unlike some of the previous years, I didn’t experiment with the temperature, and the wine was perfectly drinkable at room temperature over the 3 days after it was first opened.
I checked my notes from the previous years, and almost every year I see in my notes “this might be the best Beaujolais Nouveau ever”. This year will not be an exception – once again, this might be the best Beaujolais Nouveau I ever tasted. Drinkability: 8.
Here you can compare the 2022 label with the labels from the previous years. While least colorful, this might be the most elegant label ever – but you be the judge of it. If you care to share your impressions, I would love to hear what you think.
Beaujolais Nouveau 2022 has arrived, It might be a precursor of the harvest of the century. It might be the most interesting Beaujolais Nouveau ever. Let’s wait until Beaujolais Nouveau 2023 to find out. Cheers!
Beaujolais Nouveau Est Arrivé! 2021 Edition
Beaujolais Nouveau Est Arrivé!
It is the third Thursday in November, and that means that the time has come to celebrate this year’s harvest – Beaujolais Nouveau has arrived at the wine store next to you (at least I hope it did, but if you want to get it, you might have to hurry as there is a good chance there is not much of it available).
I had been proactively keeping track of this celebration since this blog has started in 2010 – you can find the full retrospective here, mostly in chronological order. I keep saying that every year Beaujolais Nouveau gets better and better – and this year was no exception – I really enjoyed the 2021 Beaujolais in my glass.
Nevertheless, this year was an exception. Ever since I started writing about Beaujolais Nouveau, there was never a year when I only had one Beaujolais Nouveau wine – for example, last year I had 3 Beaujolais Nouveau wines and one Nouveau from Oregon. Most of the years I had at least 3, and a few years there were only two. But this year there was only one, and even that has limited availability and most likely will not last even until Thanksgiving, at least at the store where I bought it. Yep, you knew this already – supply chain issues. There might be more of the Beaujolais Nouveau showing up later on, but it is not very clear what and when.
Few more interesting Beaujolais Nouveau-related tidbits I never thought of before. First, according to the Burgundy Report, this year there were only 100 different Beaujolais Nouveau wines produced in France, which is significantly down from the last year’s number of 160. I was sure that there are many Beaujolais Nouveau wines produced in France, but I didn’t expect the number to be that high.
While searching for the information online, I came across the article where I learned about the Georges Duboeuf First Wine of the Harvest sweepstakes! Each cork of Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau wine carries a unique number (who knew!), which can be entered on the First Wine of the Harvest website, and you will be instantly notified if you won something (I have no idea what you can win, and I won nothing). Apparently, this is not the first the sweepstakes are played, but if I wouldn’t read about it online I would still have no idea it existed.
Finally, let’s talk about the wine. According to the same Burgundy Report I mentioned before, Beaujolais regional Marketing board defined the vintage as “combative” – frost in April, and summer of rain and hail are not exactly the ideal grape-growing conditions. Relatively calm and cool September offer some relief, and while overall yield was significantly down, it was possible to preserve the quality of the harvest.
2021 Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau AOP (12.5% ABV, $12.99) has a bright ruby color, a restrained nose of the freshly crushed fruit, and copious amounts of fresh raspberries and cherries on the palate with good acidity on the finish. While the wine is perfectly drinkable at room temperature (68°F), it is showing the best slightly chilled at around 58°F – 60°F.
Back in 2017, Georges Duboeuf started the “Artist Collector Series” of the Beaujolais Nouveau wine labels, where the public is given an opportunity to vote for the favorite design which will be then printed on the label. This year’s Beaujolais Nouveau label features work by the artist Felice Kite called “For The Love Of Flowers”.
Before I conclude my Beaujolais Nouveau 2021 report, I want to offer you a fun exercise – below is the collection of the Beaujolais Nouveau labels from 2010 until 2021 (note that I came across two distinct labels in 2015). I want you to choose a favorite (or 3, or 5) and share your opinion in the comments. I guarantee you that you will get no prize for participation in this exercise, but hopefully, it will be fun.
Beaujolais Nouveau 2021 has arrived, it is definitely worth your attention, it will be perfect with Thanksgiving turkey if you will be so inclined – but you can’t procrastinate if you want to try it. Cheers!
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