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Wine Connoisseurs Beware: 'New' Wine Should Be Just That — 2008 Vintage

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By JOHN HERBERT, From Where I Sit

Hernando Today

Published: November 19, 2008

Local supermarkets and I seem to lock horns at about this time every year. At issue: the old red wine they try to sell as new wine. No wonder wine-drinking has never really caught on in North America.
On the third Thursday of every November, including tomorrow, a wine called "Beaujolais Nouveau" goes on sale on booze shelves all over the world. It's a big deal — in wine-lover circles. Supposedly, that would include Hernando County. Be careful, though!
Beaujolais Nouveau is a red wine made of grapes harvested in France only a few weeks ago. It's rather ordinary, at best, but we still fall for the marketing gimmick of the wine's freshness. What's more, it's decent both at room temperature like other red wines, or chilled, usually bad form for any other red wine.
Connoisseurs dismiss Beaujolais Nouveau as little more than grape juice. In fact, some wine critics insist it tastes just like fruit juice. But, in a good year, it'll be light, slightly sweet, not as tangy as much low-price rot gut, tasting of blueberries and raspberries, with a deep red or even purple tint.
The challenge, year after year, has been to scrutinize the usually-picturesque label. A truly drinkable Beaujolais Nouveau will have a "2008" boldly printed on the label.
If you go to the French wine section of a local supermarket when Beaujolais Nouveau is first in season, the great risk is the label will read "2007." Standard supermarket economics; get rid of the old stuff before you bring out the new.
The Spring Hill supermarkets where I shop obviously don't know, or care, that Beaujolais Nouveau should only be drunk for a couple of months. If you get the good stuff, drink it right up. After all, Beaujolais Nouveau is meant to celebrate the latest harvest. That's all.
Later, it turns bitter — fishy or even metallic-tasting — and might as well be tossed. As a matter of fact, unlike many red wines, Beaujolais Nouveau will never improve with aging. It should never be given the chance.
I've spoken to supermarkets' staffs about stocking the wrong year's Beaujolais Nouveau; they've been politely dismissive. I have also e-mailed a supermarket's headquarters about proper handling of Beaujolais Nouveau but have never elicited a response.
So, I'm extra watchful — or I shop at a wine specialty store. The problem with specialty shops is the mark-up. They'll often price Beaujolais Nouveauat $2 to $3 dollars a jug more than the same wine at the supermarket just down the street.
Beaujolais Nouveau is getting on in price. For many years, it was under $10 a bottle. Now, it's $12 or more. Year in and year out, the most reliable label is from the vineyards of Georges Duboeuf, who's been the uncrowned king of Beaujolais for many generations. Something akin to a California Gallo.
If you do go into any store for a Beaujolais at any time of year, it would usually be a pretty safe bet to pick a Duboeuf (no; I'm not on their payroll). Just be sure, anytime after the New Year, that the label reads "Beaujolais Villages," and not "Nouveau."
If you're not into apple cider, Beaujolais Nouveau (especially chilled) can be a suitable complement to that heavy Thanksgiving turkey dinner next week. It also washes down red meat and lamb rather well.
There are variations, with both other French and Californian "nouveaus," at slightly lower prices. Frankly, when the wine nears $20 a bottle, I'll have to stop this crazy affectation. Beaujolais may be drinkable, but it doesn't really beat a year-round supermarket staple, Carlo Rossi Paisano, at $5 a jug.

A regular columnist for Hernando Today, John Herbert lives in Spring Hill.

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