Nouveau Wines Arrive

Beaujolais Nouveau, the youthful, fruit-filled red wine from France, turns 50 this year. This November, wine lovers will toast more than the first wines bottled from the Northern Hemisphere's 2001 grape harvest: they'll also recognize the 50th anniversary of the decree that authorized the early release of the Beaujolais appellation.

It was this decree that set Beaujolais Nouveau on its path from region obscurity to international phenomenon. Along the way, the wine has built a reputation as the industry's most easy-to-drink red wine.

Beaujolais Nouveau from French producers Roland Bouchacourt, Georges Duboeuf, Noemie Vernaux and Reine Pedauque, Vino Novello from Italy's Mezzacorona and Marchesi de Frescabaldi and Nouveau Rouge from Nova Scotia's Jost Vineyards will arrive in Liquor Corporation outlets Thursday, Nov. 15. Their release being held on the traditional third Thursday of the month.

These wines bring with them the excitement and liquor store traffic that has been associated with the wine since Roland Bouchacourt introduced the style to the bistros and cafés of Paris.

All indications are that it has been a very good year for both French and Italian wine producers. The 2001 vintage from Beaujolais is showing itself as particularly fresh and aromatic, offering plenty of raspberry, strawberry and red currant expression. French winemakers describe the wines as very supple.

Nova Scotia's growing conditions have been exceptional this year, leaving little doubt that the wines released from the 2001 vintage will be some of the best yet produced in this province.

Peter Rockwell, the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation's category analyst, says Nouveau-style wines are designed with early drinking in mind, often reaching maturity by the Christmas holidays, which makes them "a perfect stocking stuffer."

What makes the wines so lively and aromatic is the carbonic maceration method of fermentation.

"To minimize the acid and tannin, and increase youthful fruit, the juice must avoid prolonged exposure to the outer grape skin," said Mr. Rockwell. "Great care is taken not to damage the fruit during the picking stage so that fermentation can be encouraged to occur within the skin."

During the carbonic maceration process, the grapes are not pressed. Whole bunches, including stocks, are placed in stainless steel vats. The weight of the upper bunches crushes those towards the bottom while natural or added yeast starts the fermentation of the exposed juice.

Carbon dioxide, a by-product of fermentation, begins to rise to the top of the vat. The expanding gases exert downward pressure, forcing yeast through the skins of the unbroken grapes and initiating fermentation from within. Ultimately, the pressure causes the remaining grapes to burst.

While normal non-pressurized maceration takes between 10 to 12 days, carbonic maceration lasts about 48 hours, with the extracted juice creating a wine with a full berry hue and a velvety, fresh fruit flavor.

"Some consider the Nouveau experience to be nothing more than a case of style over substance, but I feel these wines offers the consumer more than just a slick promotional campaign," said Mr. Rockwell. "Certainly the producers spend a great deal of time developing their colourful packaging, but these wines have the personality to rise above the hype -- especially when they are served slightly chilled."

"Some try to use Beaujolais Nouveau as a barometer for the vintage as a whole," said Rockwell. "But France is a big country with many regional micro-climates. These wines certainly have an identifiable personality that transcends their lightweight reputation, but it is impossible to compare them with wines from the 2001 harvest in Bordeaux."

"The wine industry as a whole does, however, gain a lot from the Nouveau phenomenon," he said, "Nouveau wines provide a yearly injection of wine awareness that often encourages many wine drinkers to discover the positive attributes of red wine. More importantly, though, they provide the perfect opportunity for wine lovers of all knowledge levels to talk about wine and celebrate as the reality of winter starts to sink in."