Today many wine lovers are celebrating Beaujolais Nouveau Day!

Beaujolais Nouveau Day is the traditional release celebration of  Beaujolais Nouveau.  The wines are from the Beaujolais region in eastern France, north of Lyon. Tradition says that the Beaujolais Nouveau wines were originally enjoyed by workers to celebrate the end of the harvest season.

Eventually wine lovers realized that the Beaujolais Nouveau could be enjoyed now and showed the potential of the Beaujolais wines for this year’s harvest.

Later marketers and PR people turned Beaujolais Day into a marketing aspect for the wine. The wines are shipped quickly around the world. However, they are not available until 12.01am on the third Thursday of November.

Beaujolais Nouveau wines are young wines with the Gamay grapes only being harvested several weeks ago. It is suggested the Beaujolais Nouveau wines be drunk by spring. Note that the  Beaujolais AOC wines can be aged.

According to the Discover Beaujolais website, “Beaujolais Nouveau, a subdivision of the Beaujolais appellation, gave rise to the entire region’s reputation for producing exciting wines. Offering an inimitable explosion fruit flavors, Beaujolais wines are lively, youthful and easy to drink.”

Check out the Beaujolais Nouveau Facebook page.

If you live in the US, this wine may be one you want to enjoy for Thanksgiving!

Cheers “It’s Beaujolais Nouveau Time!” now!

Kathy