BEAUJOLAIS NOUVEAU. The 2022 vintage is on sale at your favorite wine merchant, grocery store, restaurant or winemaker or will be celebrated in many restaurants and bars participating in the event. Fleshy and generous, the taste of this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau is appreciated by experts.
[Mis à jour le 17 novembre 2022 à 11h21] Beaujolais Nouveau is celebrated this Thursday, November 17! The French were able to discover its taste in preview during one of the “sBeaujolais Nouveau evening” organized in many cafes and restaurants from midnight. But then what does the 2022 Beaujo vintage have in store for us? “We find similarities with the great vintages 2009, 2015, 2018 and 2020” describes Daniel Bulliat, President of Inter Beaujolais. “This vintage offers wines with very varied profiles: full-bodied and structured wines with a sustained color that will be wines for laying down par excellence, as well as drinkable and fleshy wines that are pleasant to drink”. Beaujolais Nouveau can be enjoyed with cold meats and cheeses or infused in a good little dish of sausages, poultry or white pudding, for example.
Beaujolais Nouveau has become rounder and more aromatic over the years, according to the opinions of consumers and winegrowers alike. The grapes that are used to make it are indeed more full of sugar under the effect of global warming. We therefore naturally find a more structured wine, less acidic and more in line with consumer expectations. Wine generally stays on the wine bar menu for a few days, so there’s no need to rush to the counter on D-Day either!
Will the Beaujolais Nouveau 2022 live up to the last vintage? “It’s a great year, it’s very concentrated. It’s a sunny vintage. We have new Beaujolais which are sufficiently rich and powerful so it’s a good vintage. In 2021, the wines were rather light and fruity, this year they are more consistent, round with pretty colors. This 2022 vintage is very similar to 2020 and to all the solar vintages that we have more and more often now”, describes Daniel Bulliat, President of Inter Beaujolais. , the Beaujolais Wine Interprofession.
To find the restaurant participating in the operation, refer to the list of Beaujolais Bistros, a network of fervent chefs who are ambassadors of Beaujolais wines in France and abroad, wishing to introduce their finest Beaujolais cuvées to arouse interest and make people want to know more about the vineyard.
To obtain bottles, most winegrowers practice click and collect, which allows online ordering and then collection in store, or home delivery. Find them on the list of Houses & Estates of Beaujolais.
Why does it say “new”? Beaujolais is a wine covered by an “appellation of origin” (“controlled” or “protected”, AOC and AOP). Initially, this type of wine could only be marketed from 15 December. But the producers obtained a derogation from this principle in 1951, advancing the date of marketing. It is therefore a “new Beaujolais” which was available prematurely. It should be noted that if Beaujolais is available so quickly after the harvest, it is in particular because of its manufacturing process, in which only 4 days are necessary for the maceration of the wine.
How did the phenomenon appear? The event even went beyond our borders: the famous French wine can be found all over the world, first and foremost in the United States and Asia, where it is highly appreciated. However, if the arrival of Beaujolais Nouveau is hoped for by all those who are waiting for a good occasion to celebrate, wine lovers only very rarely note its quality and depth of taste… It is that the “Beaujolais Nouveau” has become in the space of thirty years a real marketing product. Once again this fall, posters to his glory will brighten up the storefronts of bistros and many restaurateurs are updating their menus during the event.
How did we get here ? It all started in 1951, when regions producing early-drinking wine are authorized to immediately place their products on the market. The primeur wine from the AOC Beaujolais and Beaujolais Village will take advantage of this decree to be distributed and drunk within a few weeks after the end of the harvest. Previously, wine merchants in the Lyon region used to buy this barely fermented wine directly from the local vineyards to resell it to their customers. A habit that will quickly be lost with the extension of the market. The laws of 1967 and 1985 set the official dates for its marketing : first on November 15 at midnight, then on the third Thursday of November. From then on, Beaujolais Nouveau became synonymous with the first tastings of the year and an opportunity to get together over a drink.
In the 1980s, producers became aware of the commercial vein : from a modest drink, low in alcohol, they sought to make a more trendy product, with the aim of bringing out the aromas of red fruits. The use of artificial yeasts to accentuate the taste of banana or violet, pre-fermentative maceration (to color and flavor the wine) and chaptalisation (a process which consists of adding sugar to raise the alcohol level) are becoming almost systematic at the winegrowers. Result: Beaujolais Nouveau became standardized and, at the same time, spread throughout the world. Every year, 54 million bottles are exported worldwide, to more than 110 countries. However, in recent years, some Beaujolais producers have wanted to go back and return to more natural and traditional processes in order to rediscover the original flavors of Gamay Noir, the grape variety used for this wine. But it will be difficult for Beaujolais producers to break away from this marketing image that has made the region and the wine famous for decades.
The Beaujolais Nouveau appellation meets very specific criteria and specifications to be followed to the letter by producers. It is thus necessary that the maceration of the bunches, whole (therefore harvested by hand) is carried out by the so-called “carbonic” method, in four days, which gives the wine aromas of fresh fruit and a weak presence of tannin. Beaujolais Nouveau must of course be produced in the Beaujolais and Beaujolais Villages appellation area, located in the north of the Rhône and the south of the Saône-et-Loire (out of a hundred municipalities, including that of Beaujeu, the “historical” capital of Beaujolais Nouveau). The grape variety used is very essentially Gamay N, but the legislation authorizes 15% of accessory grape varieties, such as chardonnay, pinot noir and gris, aligoté or melon.
After a few weeks, the primeur wine disappears from the shelves. And for good reason: Beaujolais Nouveau is not a wine for laying down. That being said, it keeps for well over 6 months. Some restaurateurs even try to bring them out years later.
Like other wines, the prices of Beaujolais cuvées vary a lot. However, they remain modest since these bottles do not keep and their price therefore does not increase over the years. At wine merchants or in supermarkets, you will find Beaujolais on sale between around 5 euros and 7 euros. Then, the price can go up to 9 or 10 euros per bottle. The price of Beaujolais is obviously higher if you go to a bar or restaurant. In this case, count between 10 and 35 euros per bottle.
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This year 2022, it comes out this Thursday, November 17. The release date of the primeur wine has been fixed since 1985. Between 1951 (date of the birth of the “Beaujolais Nouveau” appellation) and 1967, this date has fluctuated a lot. Then from 1967 to 1985, it was set for November 15. But this fixed calendar did not necessarily suit the producers, in particular because the “party” sometimes fell on a weekend. It has been more than 30 years now that we celebrate the “Beaujolpif” on the 3rd Thursday of November.