2000 Beaujolais Nouveau

[Botafogo]

They WOULD say that, they say something like that EVERY year....Here is our take:

Beaujolais Nouveau? Non, Merci! Vino Novello? Certo!

The French (airlines!) have made a multi-million dollar industry out of shipping the new vintage of Beaujolais to our doors just in time for the Turkey Day festivities. Sounds like a great idea, right? Wrong! Why? Because they insist on blowing up islands and think Jerry Lewis is a genius? No! While that sure doesn't help, this is about wine. Read on, friends. First of all, the whole point of the annual Beaujolais Nouveau craze in France is to celebrate the local harvest, whenever Mother Nature decrees that it occur. But, when the marketing geniuses in the French Dept. of Agriculture decided (for all the right reasons, see our treatise on this elsewhere) that nothing could be better with Thom Gobbler than a fresh, fruity, non-tannic red they overlooked one crucial issue: Thanksgiving is on the third Thursday in November come rain or shine (and this year that is on the almost impossibly early 23rd)

Once you make the commitment to ship on B-Day you must bottle and pack on B-Day minus 14, rack on B-Day - 16, ferment on B-Day - 19, crush on B-Day - 20 and pick on B-Day - 22 whether the grapes are ripe or not! About half the time they make it and the wines are delicious, about half the time they don't and the wines are green and nasty. But, every time they ship them here air express which cost almost as much as the wine! Our solution is threefold:

the explosively zesty Novio delle Dolomite (a blend of Teroldego and Marzemino and usualy under $7) Mionetto Novello 2000 ($8.99) made from Corvina (the principal grape in Amarone) and Merlot from vineyards hundreds of miles south of Beaujolais where it is possible to make great wine every vintage and ship it by boat to your feast with time (and dinero!) to spare and, for those who don't do red wines, the hot new Bodega Lurton Pinot Gris 2000 ($4.99) from Argentina where they harvest in March.

A public service message from WINE EXPO and The Society for the Prevention of Jaded Palates who remind you that the moderate consumption of wine with meals can lead to good digestion, convivial conversation and generally civilized living.

Roberto

[This message has been edited by Botafogo (edited 11-16-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Botafogo (edited 11-16-2000).]