Le Beaujolais nouveau est arrivé!

• Nov 21, 2016

• #1

Tiki Tom

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Where do you stand on Beaujolais nouveau?
I'm big on marking the changing of the seasons and acknowledging the milestones of the year. For me Beaujolais nouveau is the first taste of the new harvest and the opportunity to reflect back on the year. It's rollout is a good opportunity to clink glasses and acknowledge another trip around the sun. Because the official BN release date is so close to Thanksgiving, we usually have a bottle on hand to go with the turkey. It is a nice match. All that having been said, it is young and light and fruity (and varies in quality from producer to producer). It's not something that you'd want to drink with a great steak or a really subtle dish. That having been said, it's quaffable and I like it as one of those traditions that mean autumn is truly here and Christmas is not far away.

 

• Nov 16, 2017

• #2

Tiki Tom

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A year has passed and it is the third Thursday in November again. Time for the first release of the 2017 vintage! (and Happy Thanksgiving!)

 

• Nov 26, 2019

• #3

Tiki Tom

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• Nov 26, 2019

• #4

GHT

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Whenever I see the caption: "Le Beaujolais nouveau est arrivé," I'm reminded of Dr, & Mrs Vandertramp. It's an acronym to help remember the verbs that take être in what the French call passé composé, in English it's the past tense. All other verbs take avoir. The verbs that make up the acronym are all verbs of movement. And just to complicate matters, there are two more, Décéder & Passer. At school, learning French was a chore, it would never sink in. Go to France, the south, get a job grape picking, follow the harvest north, as the grapes ripen, end up in Paris. Work in a bar for three months and French was easy, but I have never forgotten that acronym.
As for the Beaujolais, it's more about hype for selling the wine abroad, that the producers find hard to shift on the home market, that was the withering remark of the bar owner where I worked, he drank beer.

 

• Nov 27, 2019

• #5

Tiki Tom

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Yes, back in the 80s Beaujolais Nouveau had a horrible reputation; mainly because it was cheap and the yobs liked to get sick in the streets on it. There has been something of a revolution since then and BN is really not that bad now. In moderation.

Quote: “Today, parties on the third Thursday in November take place around the world, and the wine has never been better or more fun to drink.”

https://vancouversun.com/life/food/anthony-gismondi-jump-in-quality-the-real-beaujolais-story

https://www.winespectator.com/articles/come-hail-or-high-tariffs-2019-beaujolais-nouveau-arrives​

For me, though, the arrival of Beaujolais Nouveau means that Thanksgiving is here and, by extension, the holidays. Another year has passed and it's time to take stock in a spirit of thankfulness and hopefulness.

As for the French past tense, with the exception of with arrive’ I pretty much use avoir all the time. No one would ever mistake me for a native speaker! Like you, I learned it a bit off the cuff. No matter what people say about the French, I can never think ill of them.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

 

Last edited: Nov 27, 2019

• Jan 6, 2020

• #6

Tiki Tom

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The "Pope of Beaujolais", Georges Duboeuf, dies at age 86.
In another thread we were talking about "good deaths". This strikes me as falling into that category. Mr Duboeuf led a very long life doing what he loved; and then was felled very quickly by a heart attack. RIP.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50999806

 

• Nov 25, 2020

• #7

Tiki Tom

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Once again, the holiday season has arrived. The stores around here are toiling just to keep the basics in stock. So I was afraid that the long Thanksgiving weekend would be sans le traditional Beaujolais Nouveau. But it has indeed arrived just in time. Happy holidays, 2020! Be safe! Be healthy!

 

• Nov 25, 2020

• #8

belfastboy

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Tiki Tom said:

Where do you stand on Beaujolais nouveau?
I'm big on marking the changing of the seasons and acknowledging the milestones of the year. For me Beaujolais nouveau is the first taste of the new harvest and the opportunity to reflect back on the year. It's rollout is a good opportunity to clink glasses and acknowledge another trip around the sun. Because the official BN release date is so close to Thanksgiving, we usually have a bottle on hand to go with the turkey. It is a nice match. All that having been said, it is young and light and fruity (and varies in quality from producer to producer). It's not something that you'd want to drink with a great steak or a really subtle dish. That having been said, it's quaffable and I like it as one of those traditions that mean autumn is truly here and Christmas is not far away.

Click to expand...

Back in the early 1980's I ran a wine tasting club. One of our events was the annual Beaujolais Nouveau release party. We started out doing a blind tasting but after a few years abandoned that and just picked up a few cases, held a pot luck dinner, drank all the wine and got good and plastered. It was a fun night.

 

• Nov 20, 2021

• #9

Tiki Tom

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Ooops. Beaujolais Nouveau 2021 has hit a Covid-19 speed bump. Bad weather, an agricultural labor shortage, and supply-chain problems mean that much of the world won’t receive their new BN vintage according to the usual timeline. (I certainly have not found it here in Hawaii, but that’s hardly surprising. HI has many charms, but access to wine and cheese is not among them.)

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/18/beaujolais-nouveau-wine-hit-by-supply-chain-problems.html

Happy holidays, everyone!