Beaujolais Nouveau
Tomorrow, the third Thursday of November, wine drinkers will celebrate or deride the release of Beaujolais Nouveau, simple wines meant to be drunk young, ideally from a carafe in a Parisian or Lyonnais bistro.
Beaujolais Nouveau has a place in the world, and if it gets people excited about wine, great. But Beaujolais Nouveau is not Beaujolais. They're made from the same grape. The same producers often make both kinds. But they're not the same. A good bottle of Beaujolais is food friendly with an inviting fruitiness and an interesting complexity. It seduces, not accosts.
This year, ask your wine merchant about Beaujolais-Villages. Or Beaujolais Cru. Or even regular Beaujolais. If you go to a good wine shop, the clerk's eyes will light up in glee and you'll get an earful and a good bottle of wine.
Want more? Call The Art of Eating and order a copy of issue 67 (Fall 2004). Ed Behr did a heartbreakingly fantastic, thirty-page article on the region. I'd be surprised if a more thoughtful profile of the region exists in any language. (Um, there's also a small, four-page article about Paso Robles wines in that issue).
Technnorati tags: food & drink | wine | beaujolais | beaujolais nouveau
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