Beaujolais Nouveau 2021
“Beaujolais Nouveau Day is marked in France on the third Thursday in November with fireworks, music, and festivals. Under French law, the wine is released at 12:01 a.m., just weeks after the wine's grapes have been harvested. Parties are held throughout the country and further afield to celebrate the first wine of the season.
Beaujolais Nouveau is meant to be drunk young. Most vintages should be consumed by the following May after its release, however, in excellent vintages like the current 2021 vintage, the wine can live much longer and even be enjoyed until the next harvest rolls around.
The Gamay grapes that go into Beaujolais Nouveau are handpicked in the Beaujolais province of France. The tradition began about a century ago as a cheap and cheerful drink produced by locals to celebrate the end of the harvest season.
The idea of a race to Paris carrying the first bottles of the new vintage was conceived and this attracted much media attention. By the 1970s, the race became a national event. The races spread to neighbouring countries in Europe in the 1980s, followed by North America, and in the 1990s, to Asia.
Beaujolais Nouveau owes its easy drinkability to a winemaking process called carbonic maceration, also known as whole-berry fermentation. This technique preserves the fresh, fruity quality of the grapes without extracting bitter tannins from the grape skins.”
Sourced from beaujolaisnouveauday.com