Napa Valley Wine Radio

It’s the third Thursday of November! They’re here! Wine that was fruit on the vine a couple of months ago is bottled and ready to drink!

I’ve always been dazzled by the accomplishment, probably more than the wine itself. Oh, I’ll pick up a few bottles to be sure. It’s so fruity and charming, just not a whole lot more. My favorite memory of a Beaujolais Nouveau was one that smelled exactly like my aunt Linda’s ambrosia salad, including the marshmallows. Wish I could remember the brand… And Beaujolais Nouveau is a great choice for your turkey for next week.

But, you have to be really organized to harvest, crush, ferment, press, clarify, bottle and get it out on the shelves by November 16, assuming you harvested around September 16th. Wow!

Even more impressive is the brilliant marketing. They’ve built this mystique around the wine, that if you don’t drink it right away it will spoil! The stuff flys off the shelves! Pure genius.

Get serious. Any well-made wine should have at least a couple of good years. It won’t be as vibrantly fruity a year from now as it is today, but if it isn’t drinkable, I have a quarrel with that.

I’ll tell you what I think: the best time to drink Beaujolais Nouveau is summertime. With all that fruity vivacity and almost zero tannin, it’s one of the few reds that tastes good chilled. So, on that warm summer evening, or at your 4th of July picnic, you fire up the barbeque, throw on the burgers and pop some well-chilled Beaujolais Nouveau . What could be better????  Santé!