Beaujolais, a light red wine vented exclusively using gamay, has delighted millions. It is, when well made and from a successful vintage, enchanting, easy-to-drink, uncomplicated, and goes with many different foods.
You can enjoy a glass in between meals, with meals, snacks, sandwiches, in short it as a versatile wine.
There are many styles of this popular wine:
Cru Beaujolais from 10 recognized villages
Beaujolais Village from 35 classified villages
Beaujolais from a vast area in southern part of the region
Beaujolais nouveau
The last category of the hierarchy becomes ubiquitous upon release the third Thursday of November every year regardless of harvest date.
Beaujolais nouveau (literally new Beaujolais) is made from hand-harvested grapes during the same year.
Winemakers employ the carbonic maceration technique to produce this light wine that never “sees” the inside of a barrel.
Carbonic maceration involves placing whole bunches in an enclosed tank with a false bottom. A small amount he grapes is crushed, placed in a container and pushed into the bottom shelf of the tank. During the fermentation, the carbon dioxide that is given off cannot escape, and circulates among the bunches above. This creates an intracellular fermentation of berries. They swell, and their skins become almost translucent. After two to three days the grapes are crushed and an ordinary wine making formula is followed.
When the fermentation stops, the wine is rested for a few days, and then filtered; subsequently the malolactic fermentation us induced by increasing the cellar temperature. During this process half of the harsh malic acid is converted to mild lactic acid rendering the young wine more enjoyable.
Beaujolais nouveau is released everywhere in the world the same day. This involves air transportation of bottles to distant markets, and trucking them to Paris, Brusselles, Amsterdam and other important consumption locales.
About 50 per cent of all Beaujolais is made in this fashion and generates quick cash for vignerons, while creating a lot of publicity for the region and is eponymous wine.
The L C B O imported eight nouveau-style wines, five from Beaujolais, one from Languedoc, and two from northern Italy and will release them to 400 stores beginning November 19.
As a wine writer I have tasted all, and recommend the following:
Beaujolais- Village, J. Drouhin, France
Very appealing both aromatically and from a flavour perspective. It is with solid acid-backbone, appealing texture and long aftertaste.
$ 14.95
Beaujolais- Village, G. Dubeouf, France
Purple colour, as all young red wines. Smells of red berries, is medium-weight and finishes well.
$ 14.5
Novio Vino Novello, Mezzacorona, Alto-Adige, Italy
Appealing fruit aromas greet your nose. Medium-bodied, with some depth. A “juicy”, very enjoyable wine with a long aftertaste.
$ 9.95
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Tags: BEAUJOLAIS NOUVEAU, France
Keith
November 22nd, 2009 at 23:37
The 2009 is so much better than the 2008 was. I really did not like the 2008, but the 2009 actually has some extraction to it. I was pleasantly surprised.
We celebrate the release each year. Our local gourmet restaurant, Molasses Grill, pours tastes and has some appetizers designed to complement the wine.
They have had some leftovers each year. It surprised me, but the 2007 was pretty good this year. I do not know how well it will hold up until next year. The 2008 I tasted was past its prime already.
.-= Keith@Norman Rockwell Art´s last blog ..Nov 22, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institute, is home to Norman Rockwell painting =-.