If drinking Barolo is like splitting wood on a cold winter day, then drinking Beaujolais Nouveau is indeed like eating cookie dough. Every third Thursday in November this marketing miracle is released to the masses worldwide, causing frenzy among top Tokyo, New York and London restaurants who even have special 12:01 a.m. dinners just to celebrate the occasion.

Beaujolais Nouveau, the bastard child of the Gamay grape, the silly cream and banana-ish nonsense, is the celebratory crux of the French harvest. Each year the “Beaujolains” throw their selected clusters whole (stems and all) into big vats, half-crush them and close the top, trapping all the carbon dioxide and wonderful effervescence it offers into the fluorescent pink/purple juice, in a process known as Carbonic Maceration. This method preserves the fresh pears-in-light-syrup and raspberries and banana cream character without extracting any undesirable vegetal flavors or harsh tannins from the skins or stems.

Malolactic Fermentation (where maltic acids are converted into lactic acids to “smooth out” a wine’s profile) is prevented by pasteurizing the wine, further fortifying the wine’s zesty light acidity and snappy appeal.

In the olden days, the wines were immediately dumped into barrels, taken by horse and wagon to the Saone River and ferried down to the bistros of Lyons and Paris for instantaneous enjoyment and celebration of the harvest. For many years, Beaujolais Nouveau was the forecasting expression of the vintage, the Burgundians paying particular attention to the character and profile.

Beaujolais has a history of releasing its wines relatively early, as much of it was sold as bulk parcels to be blended by the buyer rather than the producer (as were many French wines). After WWII this practice was discontinued with the designation of primeur wines, a system to control the early release wines and set standards for the region. With the ’60s came a renewed interest abroad in the boutique and the marketing genius of Georges Duboeuf who saw potential in this trend, and in many ways created this truly unique and authentic label. In 1983 Beaujolais Nouveau came to America for the first time (officially) and was released on the 15th of November until 1985 when it was changed to the third Thursday to (supposedly) avoid a Sunday release.

There are two different classifications of Nouveau, Beaujolais Nouveau which can source its grapes from anywhere in the region excluding the 10 crus, and Beaujolais Nouveau-Village, which can only be sourced from selected villages accounting for less than a third of the total production.

Use caution however when drinking your baby wines, as they are bottled immediately before release and they can experience what is known as “bottle shock,” a condition where the bottles’ flavors and aromas are severely subdued from the violence of the bottling process. This is somewhat rare and can be avoided by drinking the wines right away or by waiting a month or two, which really just defeats the purpose of the nouveau to begin with.

What’s most interesting about nouveau is its smell. Think of a banana and raspberry cream starburst spread on fresh baked Hawaiian sweet bread, with notes of sandalwood, cinnamon, fresh laundry and rain. Although nouveau tastes aren’t quite as exotic as it’s aromas, it offers up plenty of tart raspberry and cranberry flavors lined with ginger ale and banana puree to pair with many foods.

It is light bodied, even by Beaujolais standards though delivers some acceptable mouth-feel and structure, supported by only the faintest hint of tannins.

Some have come to consider nouveau a Thanksgiving staple, and although I personally believe this the result of some thoughtful (and effective) marketing, it is not an entirely unacceptable pairing. Nouveau’s fresh flavors marry well with most holiday foods, from turkey to ham and of course cranberry sauce and stuffing.

The biggest problem with nouveau is its lack of availability. In comparison to standard wine production versus demand, very little is produced and therefore very little is available. A typical retailer will get maybe one to two cases of each label, and depending on their standing with their distributors, only the titans get a hold of more than this. So if you can find it, don’t wait! There won’t be any more until the third Thursday of next year.

Time to Drink!

Smells of strawberries and banana cream starburst, with a note of Hawaiian bread and clean laundry. A very zesty acidity greets the plate with some real tannins supporting a mouthful of red fruits and ginger ale. A little gap in the middle leads into a good, strong finish.