DID YOU KNOW ? in the 19th century, a recently pressed juice in the Beaujolais was put in barrels and sent to Lyon and Paris. During the trip, it fermented and was ready to be consumed upon arrival.
EVERYTHING STARTS WITH A
STRIKE IN FRANCE
In 1951, a french national decree forbade wine sales before December 15 of the year of harvest. But in the Rhône region, this habit of selling their products as early as November was well established. On November 13, after two months of protest, they won their case and could exceptionally sell their wine earlier as long as they displayed the mention "nouveau" on the label.
Subsequently, in 1967, the release date of Beaujolais Nouveau was set for November 15, then finally for the third Thursday in November for administrative reasons. "It creates a real buzz that we talk about before its release" explains Olivier Bompas.
At this time the "father" of Beaujolais Nouveau, Georges Duboeuf, began to impose his wine as the must-have. He ended up intensifying his production and popularized the 71B yeast, to which we owe this so characteristic taste of banana, another commercial argument of differentiation today rejected by a part of the consumers.
NATURAL BEAUJOLAIS
The Beaujolais Nouveau fashion has imposed itself all over the world and there is no reason to believe that it will go out of fashion. However, fashion has a beginning and an end. Today, if the trend of soulless industrial Beaujolais Nouveaux is undeniably weakening, especially with the young public, it is to the benefit of more "natural" wines, and even in the bistros, where it is the revival of all Beaujolais wines that is taking place.
BEAUJOLAIS ABROAD
From an export perspective, in 2019, more than five million bottles were sold in Japan alone, making it once again the leading importing country, far ahead of the United States.
Conquerors, the Beaujolais Nouveaux have been able to consolidate an ultra-demanding market, to the point of installing the idea that filling pools with red wine is not rocket science!
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