It's Beaujolais Nouveau Day!
Thurday, November 20, 2008 is Beaujolais Nouveau Day in France! God bless a country that has a national holiday for wine drinking.
Beaujolais Nouveau, which literally means "new Beaujolais," was started after World War II as a marketing ploy to sell cheaper wines. Since then, it has grown into a day of festivities - and not only in France, but worldwide.
I spoke today with Claud of Mi Barrio, which is easily the best wine bar in Montpellier. He spent the day sampling the Beaujolais Nouveau at several wine sellers, and on Thursday he'll be offering over 12 different varieties of the wine, along with the traditional Lyonnaise charcuterie (that's yummy dried sausages to you and me) on Thursday.
Beaujolais Nouveau comes primarly from the gamay grape, but each vineyard - and there are many all located above Lyon and below Bourgogne - adds a special touch, whether it be fruits, other grape varieties or spices.
Beaujolais Nouveau Day is the third Thursday of November every year - and highly recommend stopping into any bar, wine bar or pub in France to sample the year's crop. Enjoy!