A global celebration of the grape harvest - join millions worldwide as we toast with Gamay!
[Division Wine Co's Nouveau Nouveau arrived just in time for Nouveau day.]
Beaujolais Nouveau day has been celebrated on the third Thursday of November since the 1980s; but, its tradition goes back much further. Since at least the 1800s, winemakers would bottle their just-fermented wine, produced from that year's harvest, to celebrate the end of the hardest part of their year. This led to a massive celebration among vignerons and in bars and restaurants in nearby Lyon. These are light bodied, fruit forward wines with low tannin and high acidity. With a light chill, they pair with just about any food.
Today, Beaujolais Nouveau is release at exactly 12:01 on the third Thursday (which happens to be today). In celebration we're pouring an Washington Nouveau by Division Wine Company, and opening a bunch of Beaujolais.
Besides this holiday, Beaujolais gave us one other incredibly important gift: Carbonic Maceration. Carbonic Maceration is a winemaking technique in which a sealed tank is filled with C02 and whole clusters of grapes. In this oxygen free environment, the berries begin to ferment from the inside. They use the C02 to break down sugars and acid. The resulting wine is fruit forward and acidic and low on the tannins that live on the grape skins and stems.
Michel Flanzy, a French scientist, is credited with discovering carbonic maceration - he was using C02 for grape preservation in the 30s. Several decades later, Jules Chauvet (a pioneer in natural wine) began to experiment with using the technique with Beaujolais-grown Gamay.
In the shop, we have several expressions of Gamay. From full carbonic, to semi carbonic and a few fermente traditionally.
More than anything, Beaujolais Day feels like the beginning of the holiday season for us. It comes just before Thanksgiving, as the cold and dark settles in. There is something very romantic and convivial about the idea of the entire world sipping on the same wine, even just for one day.
Santé!
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