Beaujolais Nouveau

Beaujolais Nouveau

We're eating French tonight, so I thought I'd grab a few bottles of new Beaujolais, debuting today.

Haven't actually bought the new stuff for years, and I'm wondering if anyone has tried any of this year's yet (hey, it's after 12:00PM, why not?).

Haven't tried this year's yet, but I get a kick out of how the George
Duboeuf stuff always smells of cheap banana candy.

stewed coot wrote:Haven't tried this year's yet, but I get a kick out of how the George
Duboeuf stuff always smells of cheap banana candy.

Bill Daley reviewed this bottle today and said something similar about the candy-ass notes.

I've liked Deboeuf in the past (had an incredible bottle in like 1990), but have also been disapppointed several times since.

Had a glass of the 2009 Château Cambon Nouveau last night (yes I know Illegal)
It was quite transparent, almost a rosé in color. Lots of earth, some fruit, not too grapey.
Zero banana (isoamyl acetate) scent.

I purchased a bottle for tonight but since we are having Thai pork wraps for dinner (beer)
I think the bottle will be a cocktail instead...

Good report on Depueble: http://www.thebottleshop.net/news.php?newsid=98

Only $13.99 at Foremost in Forest Park; tasting starts at 3:00PM.

I've been disappointed with BNs over the past few years. I feel like I'm paying $10-$17 per bottle for wine that is worth about $6. Kermit Lynch imports a decent one, but I never feel like it's worth the price.

Not sure this belongs in the Beaujolais Nouveau topic but perhaps more appropriately Beaujolais Pas Nouveau! Just a pitch for the other stuff that winemakers in Beaujolais make, i.e. what they vinify over time rather than getting into the bottle as quickly as possible. Leek & I had another great dinner at Cafe Matou on their Beaujolais night last Thursday. We tried the following Cru Beaujolais (by the glass): 2007 Morgon Cote du By, Jean-Marc Burgaud; 2006 Saint Amour, Trenel; 2007 Cote de Brouilly, Chateau Thivin; 2007 Moulin a Vent, Les Trois Roches, Pierre-Marie Chermette. The Moulin a Vent was our favorite followed by the Morgon. A good Beaujolais can be a really food friendly wine, worth trying.

BN is never a great, even good, wine. It is barely a wine at all, more like a tart grape juice, especially tart this year.

I tried the $8 Georges DuBeouf from Binny's. Initial mouth feel is fruity, sweet, almost big. The taste is fast and quick, no legs. Then comes an amazing strong pucker-best to have only with food. It paired fine with chicken piccata tonight.

But understand this is a marketing driven event, an excuse to party and drink without deliberation. Don't put this in a balloon wine glass and sip. Put it in a juice glass and don't drink it slow.

Buy one bottle. If you don't like it, don't get another. But don't expect a great, even good, wine-it is not supposed to be that.

Do not waste your time on this rather boring and unfinished wine called Beaujolais Nouveau and try instead one of the very flavorful 10 Crus du Beaujolais: Moulin à Vent, Fleurie, Saint Amour, Julienas, Chénas, Morgon, Brouilly, Côtes de Brouilly, Regnié, Chiroubles.
All are made from one single grape Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc. But each of them has its own distinct charm and terroir intrinsic qualities.
And, contrary to Beaujolais Nouveau, some of them can benefit from aging up to 6 or 7 years, especially in good vintage years like the 2005, 2006, 2007.

If you want to know more about these wines, read my piece on the subject on my blog French Virtual Cafe

As long as the price is right and the flavour profile appealing, no one should feel badly about drinking this stuff. As the (over-used) expression goes, it is what it is, a harvest product and, as such, it made 'more sense' in its historical context. But be that as it may, the fact that there are better wines in the world does not mean that folks should feel badly if they like a bottle or two of BN once a year.

I wouldn't pay much for BN and this year's cheap bottle was quite satisfying with regard to expectations from BN and how it went with food. Not all wine drinking experiences have to be approached with the same level of solemnity -- young, unsophisticated wines are very much part of long-standing (and well motivated) traditions in many wine-producing areas. I love the way the young wines that my relatives make and serve up pair with certain foods.

Antonius

alain40 wrote:Do not waste your time on this rather boring and unfinished wine called Beaujolais Nouveau and try instead one of the very flavorful 10 Crus du Beaujolais: Moulin à Vent, Fleurie, Saint Amour, Julienas, Chénas, Morgon, Brouilly, Côtes de Brouilly, Regnié, Chiroubles.
All are made from one single grape Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc. But each of them has its own distinct charm and terroir intrinsic qualities.
And, contrary to Beaujolais Nouveau, some of them can benefit from aging up to 6 or 7 years, especially in good vintage years like the 2005, 2006, 2007.

Similarly, don't have a burger at Kuma's -- go to David Burke's and have a Porterhouse.

I agree entirely with Antonius comment that some young wines can be very satisfying, and nowadays more and more wines, in both the old and the new world are vinified to be drunk in their youth, not to be cellared for years.
My deep resentment against BN is that a. is an unfinished product that has no real personality or character b. is partially responsible for the demise for the last 15 years of the good Beaujolais Villages and Crus du Beaujolais, that nowadays are rarely chosen as a "serious" alternative to accompany well-prepared dishes in restaurants.
And it is sad since many small producers of "crus" are working very hard to make very good wines.
I also agree that wine drinking does not need to be ceremonial or the object of a snobish approach.

In all reality, alain40's comments about Beajoulais Nouveau are not off-base. I do not think it is accurate to analogize BN to a Kuma's Burger and an expensive, top-rated wine to a Porterhouse at Burke's (presuming you believe that Burke's has the top steaks in the city). It's not that BN's faults are that it is inexpensive or necessarily young or that it's not the best wine, but that, there seems to be little advantage to drinking it (whereas a Kuma's burger is not a prime steak, but has its own advantages). For me, the question is, apart from ceremony and marking the season, which is a fine enough reason to tipple a BN, why would anyone necessarily opt to drink a Beaujolais Nouveau solely for taste when there are so many other fine wines out there (unless, of course, you like wine that tastes like strawberries and bananas )? Seriously, there are other wines that are even cheaper than most BN's that have fuller flavor profiles and more adeptly show-off the grape to advantage.

P.S. Alain - I've been reading your blog for years and always find it interesting.

alain40 wrote:My deep resentment against BN is that a. is an unfinished product that has no real personality or character b. is partially responsible for the demise for the last 15 years of the good Beaujolais Villages and Crus du Beaujolais, that nowadays are rarely chosen as a "serious" alternative to accompany well-prepared dishes in restaurants.

alain -- Those sound like reasonable reasons for someone to dislike BN but my comment really only has to do with your point a. And that is, of course, a question that involves subjective judgement... Now, I might well be inclined to agree that BN is lacking in real personality or character in some (very real) sense, but then I might counter that that lack of personality and character is part of its charm, such as it is and as it were...

Like David Hammond, I had not bothered buying any BN in many or most years for some time now and perhaps that's all the more reason why I enjoyed this year's bottle... that strange up-front busy-ness and fruitiness... I found it most pleasant for the occasion... And, as we all know, de gustibus...

And it is sad since many small producers of "crus" are working very hard to make very good wines.
I also agree that wine drinking does not need to be ceremonial or the object of a snobish approach.

Agreed on all counts.

Antonius

aschie30 wrote:ceremony and marking the season, which is a fine enough reason to tipple a BN,

I agree, and as we were eating French-Mex food at Sabor Saveur, I was looking for a wine that was quaffable (which is probably in the dicitonary definition of Beaujolais) and not very aggressive.

The defense rests (though any person who would act as his own attorney, etc.)

David Hammond wrote:The defense rests (though any person who would act as his own attorney, etc.)

I thought I was serving sort of as co-council...


A

Antonius wrote:

David Hammond wrote:The defense rests (though any person who would act as his own attorney, etc.)

I thought I was serving sort of as co-council...


A

Ha, yes, and thanks for that, Tony. I do appreciate being on your side of any argument.

Antonius: I wonder what kind of spicy wine that acts as a nerve stimulant Hoffman was refering to in your German quote...

My DH noted above that there's lots of other Beaujolais out there, and listed a few we tried at Cafe Matou - I think it kind of went unnoticed in the hubub over BN
viewtopic.php?p=294408#p294408
(note that it does not disparage BN, just points out other options)

alain40 wrote:Antonius: I wonder what kind of spicy wine that acts as a nerve stimulant Hoffman was refering to in your German quote...

Gute Frage!... Frankenwein? oder möglicherweiser etwas aus Spanien oder Frankreich durch Lübeck ins Preußische eingeführt?... Das muß ich mal untersuchen... Vielleicht können wir uns am Hoffmannstag treffen und ein (paar) Glas heben, des großen preußischen Dichters zu gedenken!

J'ai fait une petite visite à votre blog pour la première fois ce matin -- vraiment formidable!

_______________

Leek/leekman - Thanks for the further recs.

A

Antonius,
Thank you for your answer to my question regarding the wine mentioned in Hoffman's quote.
I read your interesting 2004 post on the celebration of the Prussian poet on Lincoln Avenue.
Your interpretations of the possible origins of that spiced wine are quite plausible.
I thought that perhaps it was an Alsatian Gewurtztraminer, and that thought motivated my question? But please do not spend too much time researching the subject as you seem to imply that you may do.
Anyway, you forced me to think German for a while, something I did not do for many years. In the fifties I studied German in Highschool in France and when I was studying philosophy managed to understand a bit of Kant und Leibnitz in the original text . Also I traveled on business to Koln and Munchen a few times in the late sixties and later in the eighties and early nineties to Hanover to attend industrial trade shows. But I cannot speak German anymore. Sorry.
Thank you for your kind comment regarding my blog.