Beaujolais Nouveau - Beginner's Guide
Today (I started writing midnight November 18) and tomorrow (I finished writing after breakfast November 19) let's celebrate success.
What's Happening? Breakfast and Beaujolais
Today (I started writing midnight November 18) and tomorrow (I finished writing after breakfast November 19) let's celebrate success.
What's Happening? Breakfast and Beaujolais
The race starts at one minute past midnight, late night Nov 18, tonically first minute of the day on Nov 19 2015. Beaujolais breakfast on Nov 19th at Bangers Restaurant with wine bar in the city, on the corner.
The event is celebrate every year with the arrival in London of the Beaujolais Nouveau, on the 3rd Thursday of November. Yes, one minute past midnight - the race to bring the wine over. From where to where? To England from France.
Why November? The grapes have grown all through summer. You leave them to ripen as long as you can. Then before the winter frost ruins everything (and of course it's bad weather so cold for your staff as well, but that's just incidental,) you bring in the harvest. So it's the new wine, made from this season's grape. it will have reach Bangers by breakfast time tomorrow morning.
The event is celebrate every year with the arrival in London of the Beaujolais Nouveau, on the 3rd Thursday of November. Yes, one minute past midnight - the race to bring the wine over. From where to where? To England from France.
Why November? The grapes have grown all through summer. You leave them to ripen as long as you can. Then before the winter frost ruins everything (and of course it's bad weather so cold for your staff as well, but that's just incidental,) you bring in the harvest. So it's the new wine, made from this season's grape. it will have reach Bangers by breakfast time tomorrow morning.
Beaujolais is south of Burgundy sandwiched between Burgundy and the Northern Rhone on the Eastern side of France, south of Paris slightly east. Beaujolais is a red wine made from the gamay grape. A lighter colour than Burgundy, and less strongly flavoured, more delicate.
If you are new to wine, try everything once, to find out what you like within your budget when buying, to find out what you like which is beyond your budget so that when somebody offers to treat you, you can ask for something special and appreciate what they've given you by looking happy and thank them properly with appropriate words for their generosity and good taste.
If you are a connoisseur of wine, you will know that you prefer one wine to another. You might prefer a good wine which is matured in barrels and battles with the addition of oak flavour, time to make the flavour more pronounced, blending with previous years to ensure a consistent flavour and aroma, a balance of flavours and aromas, the deeper colour which comes from ageing. Some people prefer the mature, deep coloured burgundy wines. Others are quit content with the cheaper, fresh off the vine Beaujolais nouveau.
Is it just a marketing exercise? A way to sell cheap wine you could not be bothered to mature, which isn't good enough to mature? If it's just a marketing exercise, or started that way, it's been very successful. And we can't all dash over to the vineyard to taste the new wine. For some people, it's a chance to taste the new wine and say, gosh, it's been great weather for grapes this summer, better than I've tasted in previous years, so this is a great year. For others it's just a case of, finish up the old wine, here's the new lot. For the growers of course, they've picked the grapes, put the wine in the bottle, and got it to your table. They've survived storms and strikes and setbacks and brought you a bottle of wine, to celebrate with you.
So, let's drink to that. (I personally, would not drink at breakfast, except once a year. I once went to a hotel which served a champagne breakfast. Those of us who like to work start the year as we mean to go on, with an early night and no alcohol until after the working day. More American than French. But if it gets the winemaker's picture in the papers, good for them.
More information from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaujolais
The assistant in Morrisons supermarket showed me where to find the Beaujolais, stacked next to Burgundy, if you want to compare. The cheapest bottles of Beaujolais were sold out in the store but the assistant agreed I could probably buy them on line. I didn't check the date on the bottles.
If you are new to wine, try everything once, to find out what you like within your budget when buying, to find out what you like which is beyond your budget so that when somebody offers to treat you, you can ask for something special and appreciate what they've given you by looking happy and thank them properly with appropriate words for their generosity and good taste.
If you are a connoisseur of wine, you will know that you prefer one wine to another. You might prefer a good wine which is matured in barrels and battles with the addition of oak flavour, time to make the flavour more pronounced, blending with previous years to ensure a consistent flavour and aroma, a balance of flavours and aromas, the deeper colour which comes from ageing. Some people prefer the mature, deep coloured burgundy wines. Others are quit content with the cheaper, fresh off the vine Beaujolais nouveau.
Is it just a marketing exercise? A way to sell cheap wine you could not be bothered to mature, which isn't good enough to mature? If it's just a marketing exercise, or started that way, it's been very successful. And we can't all dash over to the vineyard to taste the new wine. For some people, it's a chance to taste the new wine and say, gosh, it's been great weather for grapes this summer, better than I've tasted in previous years, so this is a great year. For others it's just a case of, finish up the old wine, here's the new lot. For the growers of course, they've picked the grapes, put the wine in the bottle, and got it to your table. They've survived storms and strikes and setbacks and brought you a bottle of wine, to celebrate with you.
So, let's drink to that. (I personally, would not drink at breakfast, except once a year. I once went to a hotel which served a champagne breakfast. Those of us who like to work start the year as we mean to go on, with an early night and no alcohol until after the working day. More American than French. But if it gets the winemaker's picture in the papers, good for them.
More information from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaujolais
Angela Lansbury. Travel writer and photographer. Author and speaker.
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