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Post by bazfaz on Nov 21, 2009 8:53:22 GMT
This was released on Thursday. Last night we went with Mrs Faz's sister to our favourite restaurant only to discover there was a Beajolais Nouveau dinner.
I think Beaujolais Nouveau has been a great marketing success. Shame about the wine. There are some good ones but most are thin and lacking in fruitiness. When we lived in the Herault our commune used to have around now an evening with chestnuts and sausages cooked over an open fire with the new wine from nearby St Chinian. This was much better than BN but nobody has organised races to be the first to get it to London.
So last night's dinner was the same food we woud have eaten with the same carafes of wine put on the table. Then each table was given a bottle of the new Beaujolais. On the label it said Expert Club, so it had been bought from a supermarket. It was thin, not fruity and with a very slight prickle from inexpert vinification. By spring it will be undrinkable.
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Post by bjd on Nov 21, 2009 9:43:34 GMT
On Thursday evening my husband and I went to a concert downtown. The church which has been turning into a concert hall is right in the centre of Toulouse, on the river. When we got out about 10, the square in front was jam packed with young people holding glasses and bottles. I thought it was the usual Thursday evening out for students, but learned that it was the Beaujolais Nouveau evening. I understand it's a big thing in Toulouse. Apparently this year it was pretty small but 2 years ago riot police had to intervene in the fighting.
All that for some crappy, undrinkable wine. Well, not only, The weather was nice so they were taking advantage of it to go out and stand around outside, drinking and talking.
Baz, you know they started a Gaillac Primeur thing here in the southwest, but it hasn't caught on like the BN. Less marketing money obviously.
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Post by bazfaz on Nov 21, 2009 9:54:05 GMT
They have a special name for the new wine in the Herault. It is something like le goulou - I forget the actual word. I can see they might be excited in the long ago days when a lot of people made their own wine. Peasants were pretty much self sufficient in many areas and you had your small vineyard along with your pasture and your arrable land. But wine making skills were limited. More than that, keeping wine in the barrel resulted in something pretty dire after a while. So the new wine would be welcome
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2009 13:19:15 GMT
Is it really that bad? I have never had. I do know it is heralded here(banners,specials with meals etc.) and began to be so about twenty years ago. Must be as Baz suggests a very successful marketing maneuver.Someone's laughing all the way to the bank.
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Post by lagatta on Nov 21, 2009 13:31:53 GMT
It used to be a big event here (I'd say about 30 years ago) and was flown in, and people queued to buy it, and there were big parties at restaurants. Although it has arrived, nobody is paying attention to it any more. Usually the government wine shops also bring in some new wines from other parts of France, Spain and Italy and some of those actually have the pleasant freshness of good new wine.
Yes, it is a huge marketing ploy. Although it has gone out of fashion here, I think it has caught on in some Asian countries and elsewhere.
I'm definitely not buying any Beaujolais - I might buy a bottle of one of the others IF a counsellor at the wine shop I trust tells me it is worthwhile. But probably not.
There is a wine and spirits monopoly here. We can also buy wine and beer in grocery stores and little corner-stores called "dépanneurs", but the latter is pretty much plonk.
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Post by imec on Nov 21, 2009 14:28:18 GMT
Mine was delightful - but I look at it as a fun wine not to be analyzed or taken seriously. It's a toast to the the harvest - nothing more. And it was agreat way to wash down the terrific Charcuterie I brought home from Quebec.
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Post by lagatta on Nov 21, 2009 15:20:25 GMT
You were lucky to get a good bottle - I've had good beaujolais nouveau too, in the sense of fruity and fresh. I'll trust my wine guy who'll be honest about whether it is worth it to buy a bottle - of Beaujolais or one of the other new wines they bring over now.
That does make quite the spread. Yum.
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Post by imec on Nov 21, 2009 15:30:05 GMT
I've definitely had some pretty poor examples in the past - ones that tasted like the stuff I had to make for myself in Riyadh.
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Post by bazfaz on Nov 21, 2009 15:42:14 GMT
There aren't many names on a Beaujolais label I would trust - Duboeuf comes to mind. There is simply too much bad stuff on sale. I think the problem is the same as with Muscadet (vineyards were included in the demarcated area that shouldn't have been - mayors twisting arms in my view). There is good Muscadet sur lie provided you drink it young. Otherwise when I lived in the Herault I would go for Picpoul de Pinet (picpoul like muscadet is the grape variety). I haven't looked for it here yet.
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Post by imec on Nov 21, 2009 15:43:49 GMT
I bough two bottles. The bottle I will drink tonight is Duboeuf.
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Post by cristina on Nov 21, 2009 16:37:35 GMT
Its seems that I forget to fly to Winnipeg for dinner yesterday. ;D
I went to a wine tasting last night at my local wine store/wine bar. They had a BN, whose label I can't remember at the moment (and I didn't drink that much), but I didn't care for it. This one was almost too fruity.
They also had the Debouef but I didn't get to taste it. Imec, I'd like to know what you think about it after you drink yours tonight.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2009 17:13:46 GMT
I have not even tasted the Beaujolais Nouveau yet. I usually buy 4 different bottles (for example, two brands at Monoprix, two brands at Franprix) and see which one is the best. Then I stock up on the best one, because I like fruity slightly acidic wines with certain meals.
Hmmm... I still have 3 hours to decide to go down to store and get some, but I was out from 08:00 until 18:00 and I was hoping not to go out again today until I saw this thread.
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Post by imec on Nov 21, 2009 17:38:31 GMT
Sometimes we see the "up a notch" Beaujolais Villages Nouveau, but have not seen any this year yet. Have I also got it right that there is a small amount of Cru Beaujolais Nouveau produced?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2009 17:42:23 GMT
There is always plenty to Beaujolais Villages available here. However, the main thing that I have noticed about Beaujolais Nouveau in recent years is how fast it disappears -- it is generally not on sale anymore by December 1st.
Another strange thing is that I think I have seen Georges Duboeuf for sale in Paris perhaps just once in all of these years, although it is just about the only brand I see in North America.
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Post by imec on Nov 22, 2009 5:22:51 GMT
Had the Duboeuf this evening - very pleasant but not better than the Mommesin in my opinion. Scored a bottle of Villages today - looking forward to seeing if it is any better.
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Post by fumobici on Nov 22, 2009 6:40:54 GMT
Not being an oenophile, I have to admit to not remembering ever having tried new wine until just last Fall in Anghiari. There is an annual Fall festival there called (in English) the bringoli festival, bringoli being a traditional local pasta like very fat spaghetti made by hand. A very rustic and delicious preparation is made of the pasta and your choice of mushroom or meat sauce along with a few other homey local specialities and everything is washed down with new wine from the just finished harvest served in plastic cups like you'd see at a keg party. The whole thing happens in the piazza in front of the theater outdoor on folding tables and chairs under pavillions. This is all a food and wine snob's worst nightmare, but great fun. The first plastic cup of the new wine shocked me. It tasted very nearly like just plain grape juice with very few of the flavors or bouquet I associate with wine. By the third cup though, I had largely become used to it and actually began to enjoy it. It's certainly not "serious" wine, but some locals think that meaningful insights about the current vintage can be gleaned from the new wine. I didn't take any photos that night as I was too busy having fun but here's the poster for the event.
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Post by imec on Nov 22, 2009 17:13:26 GMT
Sounds like a fantastic event fumobici - honest food and wine served without pretense and with lots of love - perfect!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2009 17:48:31 GMT
Here is the Beaujolais Nouveau that I bought yesterday. The normal one was 3.40€ and the Villages was 4.50€. I drank the Villages with my unexpected houseguest last night, and it was excellent.
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Post by lagatta on Nov 22, 2009 19:03:11 GMT
Here is a recipe for bringoli di Anghiari: tuscany.travel/recipes-from-tuscany/bringoli-di-anghiari/ It is very simple, but making the damned things would be quite a job. I guess it is fun if you are a bunch of villagers doing it once a year in a group - but of course in times past people had to do that kind of work daily to eat. I love "feste" or "sagre" (festivals, celebrations) of various foods held in villages throughout Italy. Often there is a saint's day or other holiday connected as well, as here it is St. Martin. I've had the keg wine a bit more matured but it is all good fun and a reminder of how food and drink should be enjoyed. Here is the Festa dei Bringoli page: www.anghiari.it/new/eventi/festa_bringoli.aspHere is a whole website devoted to sagre and other such events throughout Italy: www.eventiesagre.itwww.eventiesagre.it/Eventi_Sagre/3132_Festa+dei+Bringoli+e+di+San+Martino.html The Festa dei Bringoli page has a detailed description of the event (this is making me hungry) and a picture of Saint Martin famously dividing his cloak in two as an act of charity. Fumobici, it pains me that you are not an oenophile when you've been doing all that nice travelling round Tuscany and Umbria - unless you mean just not a wine snob. At least you are a mustard snob! But Italy is not a very good country for quality mustard - friends from France took to bringing some.
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Post by fumobici on Nov 22, 2009 19:32:42 GMT
I love wine, particularly the anonymous Tuscan and Umbrian sangioveses, but I am the furthest thing from a snob. The Italian mustard I've tried is indeed unremarkable. I think all the foodies in Italy use French.
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Post by hwinpp on Nov 23, 2009 4:44:58 GMT
I think the best young wines are actually the vinho verdes from Portugal, especially the reds. The 'Heurige' from Austria are nice too.
I used to drink Beaujolais Nouvea but I don't remember which ones. They didn't strike me as particularly bad or good.
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Post by lagatta on Nov 23, 2009 4:52:58 GMT
Oh, hwinpp, how I love Heurige... and the whole Wienerwald ambiance. Lovely. I've never heard of red "vinho verde" thought it was always white (though I know verde in that sense means unripe).
I do want to study German in Vienna, though that means you'll laugh at my silly accent.
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Post by hwinpp on Nov 23, 2009 5:29:51 GMT
Women with that accent actually sound quite sexy We should meet up after you've mastered it... In northern Portugal, east of Oporto, Braga and surrounds, if you order vinho verde you get the red. They drink it pretty chilled there, very nice and refreshing.
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Post by lagatta on Nov 23, 2009 14:18:19 GMT
That is reassuring; I always thought Germans found the Viennese accent faintly reidiculous.
I have a friend in Oporto - guess this is another reason to go there.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2009 18:47:31 GMT
After saying that Georges Duboeuf is quite rare in France, I have encountered the interesting but well known phenomenon of suddenly finding him everywhere. This year both of my major supermarkets have some Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais, and walking around near the office today, I came across this: Meanwhile, I bought some more Beaujolais Nouveau today (and we drank some Beaujolais at the office at noon, which is totally against regulations). They dared to do it, so I dared to buy it -- the bottle on the right is a plastic bottle!
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Post by lagatta on Nov 23, 2009 19:25:17 GMT
And it has a cat on the label!
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Post by imec on Nov 23, 2009 21:00:46 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2009 21:24:50 GMT
I dented the bottle on purpose to prove that it is plastic. I was pretty certain that Lagatta would appreciate the label while being equally certain that she would have severe misgivings about wine in a plastic bottle. Actually, it was better than yesterday's Beaujolais in the traditional container.
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Post by bazfaz on Nov 23, 2009 22:18:52 GMT
K2, you not only dented the bottle but you made a serious dent in the wine.
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Post by fumobici on Nov 23, 2009 22:50:55 GMT
Meanwhile, I bought some more Beaujolais Nouveau today (and we drank some Beaujolais at the office at noon, which is totally against regulations). If having a glass of wine with lunch is now considered even conceivably to be improper in France, I think they need to change the name of the country to something that isn't France. Might I suggest Franceland or Freedomland?
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