The third Thursday in November at exactly 12:01am is a time of celebration in the wine world – it’s when the new vintage of Beaujolais Nouveau is released. Beaujolais Nouveau is the first wine to be released from the current year’s harvest. Originally only the villages that helped in the hard work of the harvest enjoyed it, but the festive mood of a successful harvest was contagious and now the rest of the world happily joins in.
What You Need to Know
The wines from Beaujolais share their name with the region that they come from which is located within the larger wine area known as Burgundy in France. Beaujolais is made from the Gamay Noir grape and by law all the grapes used in the wine must be picked by hand. Once harvested the grapes then undergo a special style of fermentation called Carbonic Maceration which means that entire clusters of grapes are placed in a closed vat and then allowed to ferment basically from the inside out.
This unique style of fermentation creates wines that have very little contact with the broken skins of the grapes which is where the colour and tannin (the mouth drying sensation) come from in red winemaking. This causes these wines to be lighter in colour and tannins than most red wines. This special style of fermentation also gives them fun, fresh and fruity flavours. This is really cool, geeky wine stuff.
Four Types to Try
When you’re shopping for the wines from Beaujolais you will find that there are four different styles to choose from: Beaujolais Nouveau, which will be released this year on November 19th and will be the lightest style of the Beaujolais wines, followed by Beaujolais, Beaujolais-Village and finally Cru Beaujolais. Cru Beaujolais are wines that are considered to be the best from the region and they come from one of 10 vineyard areas that are allowed to put their names on the label. A few of the most common Crus that you will see will be labeled as Fleurie, St-Amour and Morgon.
Host a Tasting
A fun wine tasting party idea to celebrate the Beaujolais Nouveau release is to choose one of each style of the four levels of Beaujolais and try them side-by-side. See if you can taste the difference. The wines of Beaujolais are not meant to be taken too seriously. This does not mean that they’re not good wine but instead that they are meant to be light and fun and shared with friends. To me, Beaujolais is the ultimate picnic wine, whether that’s on a blanket outside in the summer or by a fireplace in the winter. With its low tannins Beaujolais can be treated like a white wine and chilled slightly before enjoying. Try it with cold fried chicken for one of my favourite pairings – enjoy!
Labels to Look For
Renowned as Western Canada's favourite sommelier and fast-becoming a national name, Erin Rosar is the creator of 'Wine in the Kitchen' and founder of WG Wines based in Calgary, where she goes by the alter ego of Wine Girl (WG). She’s also an instructor with the International Sommelier Guild and is a recognized sommelier with the Court of Masters Sommeliers out of London, England.
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