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Beaujolais: Shattering Everything a Wine-Drinker Thinks Is "Right."Mar 28 '01 (Updated Mar 05 '03) Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line Beaujolais is NOT a fine wine. Period. Ignore all "classy" wine rules, expect nothing great, and drink up because, well... that's what the French do! Subtitle: "French-Worthy Wine Lessons Without the Snooty Attitude, from an Undercover American!" A year ago, I NEVER would've thought I'd be able to tell a good wine from a bad wine unless there was something "odd" floating in it. Then I moved to France (eight months and going strong). As a result, I'm turning into as much of a "wine guy" as the "beer guy" I'd been working on becoming for a decade. (Note: I've also enhanced my long-forged "beer guy" status with many-a-trip to Belgium, but HEY- we're talkin' Beaujolais here!) Much like unintentionally memorizing your favorite channels and later, your favorite shows' schedules without realizing it, I've picked up a lot of information about wine from local experts... of whom many around here qualify, as they drink two different kinds a day on average and love talking about and sharing them. So NO- you're not getting this advice from a genuine snooty Frenchie; just someone who now genuinely appreciates and studies wine. Take it as you will. Here comes the short version of the lesson! Even when I hadn't ever bothered with wine, I knew a few "cardinal rules" which, knowing myself, I'd fake if I ever had to hang with Van Gogh or the like. These rules are: 1. If it's French, it must be good. 2. The older it is, the better it is. 3. Don't swill it- it's all about the "tasting." 4. With tasting comes at least modest, verbal judgement. Get ready: Beaujolais (pronounced "boh-zhoh-LAY") contradicts all four of the above rules. I learned from all sorts of Europeans and I'm positive by now that those rules are solid UNLESS you're drinking Beaujolais; break all four rules and you're in the clear with Europeans. If you don't, they'll tell you it's incredibly fine, charge you 10 times more than it's worth, and say "Stoopeed Ameh-ree-kah'" as soon as you walk away. THAT'S the short verion. The rest... aw, c'mon- get all Frenchie with me! From what I've learned though several bottles, Beaujolais is at best a DECENT red wine, no matter what Chateau "crafts" it. This is why you'll find plenty more Beaujolais on your average American liquor store shelf than others and why they're rather affordable even though they're imported; chateau after chateau (especially the infamous Georges Debeouf) makes a lot of profit by exporting the Beaujolais because the French themselves don't bother with it. Epinions users: have you noticed how many Beaujolais are listed in this section compared to Rhone Chateauneuf du Pape, for example? (You wanna talk GREAT wine?! Pop a Pape!) That's because there's so many more available in the states compared to the finer, more appreciated Papes, Bordeaux, Rhones, etc. With this in mind, the first concept is that if it's on the shelf with a french name, it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be great wine... but ESPECIALLY if it's a Beaujolais. That's right- the old novice rule of "If it's French, it MUST be good" goes out the window for Beaujolais. That's the perfect segway to the second important point- if you're like I was less than a year ago and basically knew "the older it is, the better is it" then chuck that mistake for Beaujolais as well. There's two types I've come across- plentiful Beaujolais Nouveau and "other," as in any Beaujolais not followed by the word "nouveau." And either way, ESPECIALLY with the Nouveau, the later, the "better." An explanation: Every year, France has a Beaujolais Nouveau day in late October. The Georges Debeoufs crank out a big ol' bathtub full of "Beaujolais Nouveau" every year and every French person clambors for the first taste from the first bottle. Seriously- I was in Paris when it happened last year and it was pretty crazy- all the bars were wide open, people were leaving work hours early, all to get there before the delivery truck showed up and started unloading the crates. Because they wanted to get the first taste. NOT because it's so good, mind you- just... because everyone wants to get the first taste. The first thing that comes to mind as a comparison is that twenty-something everyone knows who got in line a week before Star Wars, Episode 1 came out because he wanted to be the first one. (Though at least the French KNOW it ain't going to be that good; the twenty-something *I* know still deludes himself into thinking Episode 1 is good.) There's no other reason to get the first taste. And you should see how much of this year's batch is still collecting dust on every wine vendor's shelf in France ever since, no matter HOW cheap they price it... To finish out the Beaujolais' second point, I HAVE seen NON-nouveau Beaujolais and tried a few, and none are any more impressive than the nouveau ones. If anything, they were a little more disappointing because we thought they might actually be worth the extra francs, opened 'em up to accompany a good home-cooked meal, and had to pop a couple of Coca-Lights instead (Diet Coke in French) because the Beaujolais would've "insulted" a meal compared to cola. (I'm not exaggerating- Europeans take this stuff so seriously an inanimate wine can "insult" dead-and-cooked animals and veggies!) The next rule that Beaujolais trashes is the classic "sip, don't swill" rule. Any kind of Beaujolais, especially the Nouveau varities, are MADE to drink without the swishing, tongue-twirling, percolating (what I call the noise any wine-taster makes when "taking oxygen in" while the wine's still in their mouth- it's basically reverse-dribbling) or the like. Beaujolais are "aged" for a minimal number of weeks, and are supposed to be drunk young without contemplation of how woody they taste, the underlying fruits/nuts flavors, etc. One cool factoid is that it tastes a bit like "vin tutti-frutti" to the average American- it's a red wine hence plenty of flavor (i.e. grapes, strawberry, etc.) but ALSO a hint of banana that's there on purpose, unlike any other "legitimate" vin rouge. Don't sip- just drink. And this goes hand-in-hand with shattering rule four: don't judge it because "it ain't no sippin' wine." Just like you shouldn't sip it as though you're trying to solve world hunger by getting the taste judgement just right, you don't talk about it that way. I've got to admit, I'm getting used to the verbal critiques that come with the first sip of an opened bottle of wine- it's also these little judgement pow-wows that have indirectly taught me so much. But Beaujolais is the "Boones' Farm" of the French, and it should be treated with no more respect than that. Get it? This is not the wine you order for a $100 (or 800 french franc) dinner-date; this is the wine you pop open for a picnic or just to sit around at a cafe and kill off on a hot afternoon, and nothing more. I find it amusing that any novice in the states who didn't bother with the basic cardinal rules would look "tres gauche" by breaking them all in front of the "classy" Americans drinking Beaujolais, but here they're the legitimately "educated" Americans if they do it with the French. So the next time you're at some cocktail party (as people my age are prone to throwing for some horrid reason) and you see a gaggle of overstuffed yuppies acting like everyone tried to at the prom decades before (classier than they are) by judging the fine and subtle qualities of the French Beaujolais Nouveau they're sipping and swishing, take the bottle by the neck, take a big ol' swig and scream, "I got the first taste, eeyou STOOPEED AMEH-REE-KAHNS!" ...Then spit on the floor next to them. (Epilogue: I had a couple of European friends read this and though one of them slapped me with a leather glove for the Frenchie remarks, they concur with the wine advice.) LATER ADDITION: I'S BEEN ED-JU-MUCATED Please read the comments for this epinion for "beaujolais'" excellent rebuttal. Now THERE'S a person who knows their Beaujolais, and even met the infamous Deboeuf. I'm just glad that in hindsight I made sure to point out I'm an American wine amateur!  |
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