No, we’re not talking about Mark Twain, but instead about the dreaded-or-beloved Beaujolais Nouveau. In my relatively short career in the wine industry, this light quaff has gone from a “must have” to a “must dis” to, it seems now, somewhere in the “why not enjoy it while it lasts?” category.
I am not one of those retailers who buys 50 cases of George Duboeuf, sticks them in a pile in the front of the store, and prays that it all sells out before New Year’s Eve. First of all, that stuff is the stuff that gives BN a worse name than it deserves. Second, the BN rage days of the 80′s and 90′s are long gone. But the good news is that there are a number of smaller producers who are making quite nice BN in moderate quantities, and their creations seem to fit the bill perfectly for BN’s current status.This year I bought 5 cases each of three different winemakers’ BN, and before I could say “Happy Thanksgiving” it was all gone. I also spoke to those distributors who represent these little guys, and they all wished that they had ordered more.
So it seems that BN has settled in nicely in a more modest, higher quality environment. While it’s still fashionable among the real wine geeks to trash the stuff, I, unashamedly, do enjoy it while it lasts, and these days that seems to be a much shorter period of time. Viva Beaujolais Nouveau!
