Beaujolais Nouveau Est Arrivee! Does Anybody Care?
 

Just saw this on the window of my local wine/gourmet foods store. Hasn't this dog lost its bark long ago? Does anyone care?

I love a good BN but can't find one lately, any recommendations on a good brand? I used to buy some for Thanksgiving dinner.

I was just at the liquor store and the clerk drew my attention to the display. I bought a bottle.

I think the wine was over-hyped for a while, and people began to expect more than it had to offer. It's a pleasant, quaffable wine, seldom more but almost never less.

In the US, at least, there has been a tremendous growth in wine snobbery, too, which requires people to demonstrate they have gone beyond mere BN, but do very much like, say Chiroubles.

Bah. Drink the nouveau for a few weeks and enjoy it for what it is.

Even in France people care less and less about BN, as I heard on French radio yesterday, but this new tradition continues somehow. The company where I work has a wine transportation department. Every year they invite colleagues from other departments to their BJ tasing with "cochonaille" to go with (so that makes a sort of standing lunch), that we did today. Several different lables of BJ, including George de Boeuf. Not too bad, a bit of parfum of banana, or maybe a bit of rasberry. Usually people prefer other names than G.B. but this year, I thought G.B. was ok too. Perhaps it was due to good company and relaxed lunch mood. Everybody was happy.

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Every year they invite colleagues from other departments to their BJ tasing with "cochonaille" to go with (so that makes a sort of standing lunch),
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i happen work in france a lot in november each year. this what is done in a lot of french companies but nobody talks about the wine...they just chug it and get drunk.

they must laugh when they hear people making tasting notes on this rubbish.

I agree. Because of Georges DBs masterful marketing, people here in the US and elsewhere who were unfamiliar with wine were led to think that BN was a fine and very special wine when it is just a very young fruity wine enjoyable for a few months tops. The whole fuss over its arrival was largely born out of his (GDBs) marketing ploy and it certainly worked! What is on the shelves here in US has been air-shipped; the price will drop when the sea-borne wines come in later this month.

Georges DuBoeuf ironically, or the company, was convicted i believe recently of adulterating BJ 'vintages' exported to the U.S.!

Well there are certainly a lot of other Beaujolais besides the Nouveau. Including the cru Beaujolais which he and other shippers bring in. I did not hear about his conviction, though...when wa this?

Never mind..I read the article from last July....

Anybody actually try the BN this fall? I thought last year's Georges DB was pretty awful (sweet), but about four-five years ago, I liked it so well I bought a case.
Any early opinions? Brasserie Jo and the French Library in Boston hold an annual BN release evening--I think that it may have been last night--but I am way too much of an early bird to stay out late mid-week to uncork a bottle of BN. I'm not sure I could even do that for a n especially good vintage, unless I was on vacation!
letour

Tasting is a nice way to put this lunch. Nobody seriously taste it (actually most just drink it to go with the food) but my point is the last line "every body was happy" that obvioulsy walking around missed or didn't care.

I "read" somewhere that the new beaujolais was supposed to be pretty good this year... buy why does anyone its gonna be GREAT? Its not..its red and its young.
I frankly really enjoy DdB's "white table wine" as one of my plonk wines.
Sheez, I like a lot of plonks! Good thing I guess, I can save more to sip wine in France then...

oops... short term memory going to he!! in a handbasket...

Our liquor store wasn't going to even offer it until today.

G.B. we had today was skrew capped that is perfectly fine for BN that should be drunk so young. I think other bottles were with cork.

No thanks, but I had an excellent 2003 Beaujolais Villages last night.

Try DB's Julienas or Moulin a Vent cru Beaujolais if you want to move up a notch. I like both of these, along with the BVillages.

It should be mentioned that Georges Duboeuf is an almost totally unknown brand in France.

I have 5 supermarkets within 100 meters of my apartment in Paris, and I generally make a point of trying their Beaujolais Nouveau offerings. Usually, at least one of them is absolutely spectacular while the others are generally quite ordinary. So I just buy the spectacular one for two or three weeks until they are out of stock.

I pity the people who just have one or two varieties from which to choose.

A little background:

Once upon a time, the local peasantry helped the lords of the manors bring in the grapes.

In return, the lords opened a barrel of young wine and threw a party.

Thus, Beaujolais Noveau.

It wasn't until DuBoef began his worldwide campaign in the early 1980's that anyone considered this beverage to be something more than something to get drunk on - if anyone actually does. :)

((I))

I thought G Duboeuf was pretty well known in France, also, but what do I know -- I don't like that brand very well at all and don't buy it at home (the white Burgundy is okay for the price) so don't look for it in France. I don't care about the whole BN day thing, but it's a good excuse to go to a party and I usually do at my local Alliance Francaise. That's tomorrow. They have good cheese with it, even if the wine isn't so impressive. I sort of thought the whole thing was only Georges Duboeuf, actually -- I think that's the only brand of BN I've ever seen for sale in the wine stores near me in the US.

I usually buy a bottle or so as it's not that expensive. I did like it pretty well two years ago. Last year's was just okay but not as good IMO. I haven't read anything about this year's.

Kerouac you are correct. The genius was Georges teaming up with importer Bill Deutsch here in the US and pouring lots of money into pr. No one takes the wine seriously but as I said, I hope poeple do not discount all Beaujolais thinking that the whole area produces only this wine. There are, I believe, 9 cru BJ as well as the BVillages and some of these are excellent value wines. Here is NYC we can choose from many nouveaus..not sure about the smaller places in the US.