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Wine recommendations and comments from Dean and Lisa Foster, Vintage Connections Wine Educators and Consultants. Most wines are available in Southeastern Pennsylvania and are priced between $10 and $20. Up-coming "wine events" available in the Pottstown Tri-county area are listed.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Beaujolais Nouveau - Recommended this Year


Beaujolais Nouveau (Georges Duboeuf) 2012

The 3rd Thursday in November is (was) Beaujolais Nouveau Day.  So, yesterday and today, people have been asking us "should I buy it this year?"

OK, go ahead and buy it this year.  It's good, not great, but then we didn't expect it to be a classic.  The 2012 is deep purple, fruity on the nose, has more body than last year, and is a little peppery.  Chill it though, to about 55 degrees (in the fridge for an hour or so, or after it's all the way cooled down, out of the fridge for about 20 minutes.)

The Duboeuf is on sale at PLCB stores for $9.99 through Saturday, November 17. On Sunday, the price goes up to its usual retail price of $12.99 ($23.99 for 1.5 L). Drink it by New Year's (this New Year's, not the next one). 

The Georges Duboeuf is the only 2012 Beaujolais Nouveau available off the shelf in PLCB stores.  It's PLCB code is 5877, but you won't have to ask for it by number.  There is usually (always?) a display at the front of the store, at least for the next few days.   A few others brands of Beaujolais Nouveau are available by special order, but Duboeuf is king.
A Little History 
In the 1970's, Georges Duboeuf popularize
Nouveau Beaujolais 2012d this local celebration (in Beaujolais) to globally market cheap, new wine, produced from Gamay grapes in this small sub-appellation within Burgundy (France, just in case you didn't know). 

This wine is from the new vintage (2012), with these grapes being harvesting only 6-10 weeks ago.


Nouveau Beaujolais is always young, fruity, low in tannins and a little sweet.  But the wine can change noticeably year-to-year because of the weather in Beaujolais.  In 2010, we recommended buying it, bought several bottles ourselves and shared it with friends. In 2011, we recommended against buying it because it was especially thin and bitter.  This year, it really is OK.  Don't expect a Bordeaux or Burgundy or big California red.  It's a light, fruity, fun wine.Go ahead and buy a bottle and let us know what you think.

Other Beaujolais Wines 
The Beaujolais region produces some finer (red) wine made from the Gamay grape and a few whites (mostly from Chardonnay).  "Villages" is a step up from Nouveau (which is classified as just plain "Beaujolais"), and "Cru" is a step up from Villages.  Last night, to "not celebrate" Nouveau Day, we went to a tasting of 6 Beaujolais Cru wines, including two whites.  Today, along with the 2012 Nouveau, we bought two Villages, a 2010 from Deboeuf and a 2011 from Jadot (Villages and Cru are expected to age well for a few years). Maybe we're just looking through Nouveau-colored glasses this year, or maybe we're just peasants at heart, but we like this year's Nouveau more than the Cru wines we sampled last night and the Villages we bought today.  Between the two Villages, we preferred the 2010 Deboeuf and actually disliked the 2011 Jadot (just as we disliked the 2011 Nouveau last year, so it's probably the vintage, not the producer).

ENJOY, we hope. 

Up-coming Event
 
November 17 and 18

Sample new releases, some from the 2011 vintage, buy March Madness Passports, and ENJOY!

Vynecrest produces a Nouveau made from Gamay grapes, one of  the few traditional Nouveau wines produced in the US.  


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