It's that time of the year again – the release of the wine connoisseurs love to hate and the Japanese love to drink.
As the clock struck midnight Wednesday, corks popped the world over on this year's bottles of Beaujolais Nouveau, with enophiles in Asia getting the first taste of the love-it-or-loathe-it young French wine.
Long an annual tradition, winemakers in Beaujolais
country in eastern France rush the "primeur" wine to market just a few
weeks after harvest, bottling quickly following a rapid fermentation and
maturation taking a matter of weeks.
The time difference means the Japanese – always keen fans of
Beaujolais – will be the first to taste this year's vintage, whose
hurried preparation often makes for very mixed reviews.
Japan imported 7.9 million bottles last year – far ahead of the
nearest competition. The United States bought 1.8 million bottles and
Germany took 730,000.
Some producers in France have even decided to align their clocks with their biggest fans.
"We will celebrate the Beaujolais Nouveau
on Skype with our Japanese clients," said Claire Chasselay, 30, a wine
producer in Chatillon d'Azergues, in southern Beaujolais.
"Our Japanese clients know us thanks to Beaujolais Nouveau. Now they buy our line throughout the year," said Chasselay.
Exports account for around 40 percent of sales of the wine, which has
a powerful marketing pull even if the taste often leaves critics
unimpressed. Beaujolais Nouveau has a reputation for a very fruity aroma
and in the days when it was mass produced with little care for the
quality, it was derisively known as the banana-flavored wine.
"[Banana] is an aroma that can be found naturally in wine," said
Melina Condy, another producer. "But for Beaujolais, it was due to a
yeast that was added that had a secondary effect on the taste. It is no
longer used."
For some, making the wine is a great challenge.
"The Beaujolais Nouveau is a rude wine – very young and spirited,"
said winemaker Fabien Chasselay, but he added that getting it right can
be tough.
"It's the most difficult, but it's so much fun to do," he said. "If
you finish the process too soon or too late, there is no maturity to
fall back on. That's why so much ends up in the trash."
The Beaujolais region is happy with the quality of the 2014 vintage
as confirmed by Bertrand Chatelet, director of Sicarex, a local vineyard
research institute, who said: "the wines show a superb flavor
intensity."
He added: "the tannins are fine, silky and perfectly integrated,
which gives structure and length on the palate, with above all lots of
elegance."
The expected good structure should bode well for next year's releases
of the more serious and much more interesting Beaujolais crus wines,
and for the growing number of Côte d’Or producers who have invested in
Beaujolais recently, such as Lafarge and Louis Boillot.
Earlier this year, Maison Joseph Drouhin announced a long-term partnership with the Hospices de Belleville, which has an estate of 14 hectares (35 acres) in Fleurie, Brouilly and Morgon.
The release of the Beaujolais Nouveau has become a fixture of
restaurants all over the world, even though the "tradition" was only
invented by négociant Georges Duboeuf in 1967.
Source: http://www.wine-searcher.com/
Long an annual tradition, winemakers in Beaujolais
country in eastern France rush the "primeur" wine to market just a few
weeks after harvest, bottling quickly following a rapid fermentation and
maturation taking a matter of weeks.
The time difference means the Japanese – always keen fans of
Beaujolais – will be the first to taste this year's vintage, whose
hurried preparation often makes for very mixed reviews.
Japan imported 7.9 million bottles last year – far ahead of the
nearest competition. The United States bought 1.8 million bottles and
Germany took 730,000.
Some producers in France have even decided to align their clocks with their biggest fans.
"We will celebrate the Beaujolais Nouveau
on Skype with our Japanese clients," said Claire Chasselay, 30, a wine
producer in Chatillon d'Azergues, in southern Beaujolais.
"Our Japanese clients know us thanks to Beaujolais Nouveau. Now they buy our line throughout the year," said Chasselay.
Exports account for around 40 percent of sales of the wine, which has
a powerful marketing pull even if the taste often leaves critics
unimpressed. Beaujolais Nouveau has a reputation for a very fruity aroma
and in the days when it was mass produced with little care for the
quality, it was derisively known as the banana-flavored wine.
"[Banana] is an aroma that can be found naturally in wine," said
Melina Condy, another producer. "But for Beaujolais, it was due to a
yeast that was added that had a secondary effect on the taste. It is no
longer used."
For some, making the wine is a great challenge.
"The Beaujolais Nouveau is a rude wine – very young and spirited,"
said winemaker Fabien Chasselay, but he added that getting it right can
be tough.
"It's the most difficult, but it's so much fun to do," he said. "If
you finish the process too soon or too late, there is no maturity to
fall back on. That's why so much ends up in the trash."
The Beaujolais region is happy with the quality of the 2014 vintage
as confirmed by Bertrand Chatelet, director of Sicarex, a local vineyard
research institute, who said: "the wines show a superb flavor
intensity."
He added: "the tannins are fine, silky and perfectly integrated,
which gives structure and length on the palate, with above all lots of
elegance."
The expected good structure should bode well for next year's releases
of the more serious and much more interesting Beaujolais crus wines,
and for the growing number of Côte d’Or producers who have invested in
Beaujolais recently, such as Lafarge and Louis Boillot.
Earlier this year, Maison Joseph Drouhin announced a long-term partnership with the Hospices de Belleville, which has an estate of 14 hectares (35 acres) in Fleurie, Brouilly and Morgon.
The release of the Beaujolais Nouveau has become a fixture of
restaurants all over the world, even though the "tradition" was only
invented by négociant Georges Duboeuf in 1967.
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