Put on sale this Thursday, November 21, this symbol of conviviality has acquired international fame through its name alone. The editorial team looks back on its history.
“He’s here!” A few words scribbled on the zinc slate of a bistro, and the Beaujolais season has begun. Every year, on the third Thursday of November, a unique fervor floats among wine lovers. How did this light wine, which goes so well with cold meats or chestnuts, conquer hearts? Let's go back to the roots a little.
To understand the “New Beaujolais”we must return to the region from which it came. A wine-growing area north of Lyon, Beaujolais stretches for around fifty kilometers. This particular terroir produces a red wine from the Gamay grape variety, a grape that flourishes on the granite soils of the region. A wine like any other? At the very beginning, it is produced quickly, intended to be tasted at the end of the harvest, to celebrate the year that has just passed. A premier wine! It once announced the harvest and opened the wine season. It has become a world wine, and a festive event.
In the first place
For a long time, the new wine festival took place on Saint Martin's Day, November 11. “On Saint Martin’s Day, let the wine taste and let the water run through the mill”commands a popular saying. It is in fact, according to legend, to the Bishop of Tours – already famous for the size of his coat – that we owe the pruning of the vine. Grazed by mistake by her donkey, she becomes more loaded with grapes than the others.
When was the date changed? After the Second World War, the Union Viticole Beaujolaise asked to be able to market wines en primeur, before the dates officially planned for their release. In 1951, it was done! The date is brought forward from December 15 to November 15, a fixed date which remains inconvenient because it can fall on any day of the week. To facilitate marketing, it was in 1985 that a decree set the third Thursday in November as the date of their release for consumption. Today, Beaujolais is the second best-known appellation after «Champagne».
And the new wine festival? In 1989, the town of Beaujeu, historic capital of Beaujolais, imagined an event dedicated to the new Beaujolais. Imports are exploding. We drink Beaujolais Nouveau in Tokyo, in New York, in London. It’s a wine that brings people together. Old Burgundy and champagne have prestige. Beaujolais Nouveau is drunk for the simple and convivial moment that it represents. A bit like an evening with friends that you hadn't planned.
