At one past midnight on the third Thursday of November millions of bottles of a young wine set off from small towns and villages in Beaujolais, France. They’re all to be greeted in Paris and the rest of the world with a “Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé” (Fr.: The new Beaujolais has arrived).That extraordinary wine deserves some special attention and in the week of the Beaujolais Nouveau here it comes.
Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé
The third Thursday of November 2016 is the 17th. There’s a French law that prohibits selling the wine any earlier. The wine is young, just fermented and bottled extremely fast. That is one of the reasons it’s loved all across the world – the grapes that are now wine have been maturing under the sun in France, just a few weeks before. Like Champagne, handpicking grapes is mandatory in Beaujolais, again it’s the law.
The grape variety Beaujolais is made of is Gamay. It’s juicy and balanced with a thin but leathery skin. A special technology rapid fermenting and bottling right away. The wine is meant to be drank young, after a very modest aging but not later than the following May. In rare cases when the vintage is exceptional (like 2000), it’s consumed all the way till the new vintage.
The light variants of Beaujolais are perfectly paired with cold hams like jambon persillé. The more full-bodied ones go well with roasted poultry.
French restaurants in Sofia are naturally among the best places to enjoy Beaujolais, so make sure to try L’Etranger and L’Instant. Also check out Di Valli and VinoVino.
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