Beaujolais

Paris, Dec., 1995 The new Beaujolais has been here for a few weeks (Photo by RR)

Voici un toast: Vive la Rèpublique, les jolie filles, les beaux garçons, et les pommes de terre frites ! A votre Santé !

(author unknown)

Beaujolais From time to time it is pleasant to have something a little different with supper. Beaujolais can fill the bill very nicely, especially for casual meals, and you won't be bankrupt.

This wine can be enjoyed all by itself, but it also takes well to most foods, so how can you lose? Especially when you consider that this is not a wine to "ponder", but one that you simply drink. The French have a word for it "gouleyant", which is hard to translate, but comes out roughly as "gulpable" (or if you prefer, goes down easily).

To enjoy this quality you will have to spend an extra dollar or two above what you are used to paying for table wine. This will buy you the Beaujolais classification. For still another dollar or two you can step up to Beaujolais Villages, a slightly better quality. You can even pick out a certain village if you care to, but that puts the wine outside the scope of these columns, aimed primarily at the budget minded.

Beaujolais Nouveau

Every November there is a great to-do in France (and in the U.S. too) about the release of the "new wine" or Beaujolais Nouveau. This wine is even more gouleyant - really a nice treat - but the downside is it won't stay that way very long - not something to store away in your cellar - just drink it up. The quality seems to vary from year to year, and maybe even between bottles in a given year. Either the B & G or DuBouef label is good, and you can probably find a few other brands.

Beaujolais Villages

B & G, DuBouef and Louis Jadot all put out good "Villages." Unlike the Nouveau, you can put these away and they might even improve. We have tried at least one Beaujolais Villages Nouveau (DuBouef) - not only new, but of Village quality (ok, so it's several villages) and liked it.

California Labels

There are several California labels (one is Beringer Gamay Beaujolais) which make a useful Beaujolais type wine, usually from slightly different grapes. Beringer puts out a Nouveau also, at the same time that the French wines arrive in November.

Le Snobisme

There is a certain condescension toward Beaujolais from some wine drinkers. Each November you can find newsgroups with notes from these spoil-sports, to the effect that the wine is thin and weak, and you can get better values. Perhaps they miss the point - this is wine to be drunk and enjoyed. It was never meant to be a great wine. The annual Nouveau release is a fun experience. Don't allow the snobs to cause you to miss it.
RR NR

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