It’s that time of the year again.  The streets in France are filled with signs proclaiming, “Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrive!”  But I must admit that, despite all of the excitement, I’ve never before taken the Beaujolais Nouveau very seriously.  After all, I can list numerous other wines that I would rather be drinking.  This year, however, since I’m in France, I decided to partake in the fan-fair.  In doing so, I’ve discovered more than just a wine…I’ve discovered an important ritual.

I’ve always wondered why watery beer, that I usually try to avoid, always tastes good at baseball games.  Or, how cold pizza tastes good in the morning, but in the evening it must be heated up.  For me, eating and drinking isn’t always about the food or the drink, but more about the ritual.  And when it comes to the Beaujolais Nouveau, it’s more about the tradition than anything else.

Beaujolais Nouveau is a French wine produced in the Beaujolais region of Burgundy from the Gamay grape.  It is released the third Thursday of November when the wine is just a mere six weeks old.  Thus the word “Nouveau”, meaning “new.”  It is then quickly distributed throughout the world (not a second before midnight) where it is met with eager anticipation.  The wine is virtually tannin-free, fruity, light-bodied, and extremely easy to drink.  Nobody I know takes this wine seriously, but almost everyone I know buys a bottle (or two).

The tradition of drinking Beaujolais Nouveau is similar to that of drinking Bernache (see Burnt Nuts and Partially Fermented Grape Juice), the partially fermented wine symbolizes the end of the harvest season.  Beaujolais Nouveau is the next step in the cyclical calendar of wine drinking.  While the wine is nothing extraordinary, drinking it symbolizes the new vintage; however, it also has an effect on the consumer.  The act of drinking Beaujolais Nouveau forces us to distinguish this year from last year, not only in regards to the wine, but in regards to our personal life as well.  It is also a social ritual since we all drink the wine at the same time of the year.  Even though we don’t know the other consumers, we are aware of their existence, thus making them a part of our imagined community of fellow wine drinkers.  So even though we don’t really like the wine, we take pleasure in drinking it, just like the watery beers at baseball games.  This little bottle creates a link between wine drinkers throughout the world, and, since it is one of the most affordable wines, no one is left out.

27 Nov This entry was published on November 27, 2009 at 6:51 pm. It’s filed under Wine and tagged Beaujolais Nouveau, Burgundy, Gamay, Red Wine. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.