Beaujolais Nouveau has arrived for the season.
Despite its bad rap, it doesn’t have to taste like that red you got drunk on for your 21st birthday. When Beaujolais Nouveau is harvested from old vines and smaller vintners, it can be a light, fruity, easy-drinking wine for under $20.
South of Burgundy, the Beaujolais region produces nouveau from gamay grapes harvested in September that’s ready to pour by late November. Nouveau comes from grapes that aren’t of the caliber a vintner would use for a Beaujolais crus — the highly regarded wines that age for two or more years.
The 1950s marked the rise in distribution of bottles to Paris, while Georges Duboeuf became the leading producer in the 1980s. Overproduction and the Duboeuf scandal of 2004 pummeled the wine’s reputation when the producer mixed a bad harvest with a better harvest. Only lately has it recovered — though many a drinker associates Beaujolais Nouveau with notes of bubble gum, bananas or nail polish remover.
Yet it can be quite nice. Domaine de la Madone Beaujolais Nouveau is harvested from vines more than 70 years old, producing a fruit-forward wine with soft tannins. Another option is the Domaine Durdilly “Les Grandes Coasses” Beaujolais Nouveau. Bottles range from $13 to $15.
— Melissa McCart, Newsday