My first Buddhist retreat was held in a drafty cabin in the Highlands during a long, dark Scottish November. I was depressed because I hadn’t seen the sun in weeks. Scotland was bleak. I need relief. The most helpful thing anyone said to me had nothing to do with meditation. As I sat trying to warm myself by the hearth, an elderly lady muttered, “The thing to remember about fire is that it’s just stored up rays of sun released from a dead piece of wood.” I spent the rest of the weekend meditating in the glow of the fireplace and somehow I felt better.
I remember this story every November when the first shipment Nouveau Beaujolais arrives at the LCBO, because – just like the firewood – this wine is a care-package that the summer mails to the darkest part of the year.
Nouveau Beaujolais is called “nouveau” because it’s so young. The grapes are from the harvest a few weeks ago and they have undergone only a few days of fermentation. In consequence, Nouveau is the lightest and fruitiest species of red wine. It’s designed to directly translate the warmth of the summer into a juicy and refreshing beverage. The flavours of cherry, raspberry, peach and sometimes banana are so light that I’ve heard it called “the only white wine that happens to be red.”
Nouveau generally comes from the French region Beaujolais but Italy also makes a version called Novello. Every year on the third Thursday of November, the Nouveau is released across the world at the same time. “Nouveau Day” is a way of celebrating the harvest, like the French answer to Oktoberfest. All over France, there are cafés that gaily announce, “Le Beaujolais Nouveau est Arrivé!”
Wine critics hate Nouveau for a variety of compelling reasons. It offends their sense of authenticity because “Nouveau Day” is actually a marketing ploy fabricated by winemakers in the same way that De Beers invented the engagement ring. More importantly, Nouveau can be nasty. It is mass produced, rushed through production, and diluted with a variety of semi-industrial processes that swap quality for a quick buck. Especially bad Beaujolais is accurately described as “banana-flavoured headache juice”.
But not all wine has to be Chateau Lafitte. Some wine can get away with just being fun. And nothing is more fun than coming home from the LCBO in the darkness of November to uncork a fresh remnant of summertime in France.
Plus it’s cheap as sin.
The LCBO is releasing 5 Nouveau wines on November 20, 2008. We are holding a Nouveau Beaujolais party at my office to celebrate. Over the next couple days I will post my tasting notes for Nouveau Beaujolais 2008.
Matthew Sullivan is a civil litigator in Toronto. He writes a weekly blog entry here on lawandstyle.ca. The Short Cellar column appears in the print edition of Precedent. Matthew can be reached at matthew@lawandstyle.beta-site.ca