Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!

Yesterday was Beaujolais Thursday, one of the best holidays of the year.

Oh, I'm no big fan of Beaujolais; it's too young and thin for my tastes, but who doesn't love a day celebrating wine?

Beaujolais is produced in France of the gamay grape, and no matter when the harvest, it is always released to the world on the third Thursday of November. Now, one explanation I saw for this said it was because of Thanksgiving, but uh, since we're the only country that celebrates Thanksgiving (that I'm aware of, that is) on the fourth Thursday of November, that doesn't seem like a legitimate reason to me. Whatever.

Because it's such a young wine, it's often described as a great "transitional" wine for those looking to expand beyond whites. It's a great choice for anyone just starting out into the world of reds, as it's as close to a white wine as any red you'll find. It's fruity and you'll find it easy to drink.

I happened to be out buying wine yesterday anyway so figured I may as well grab a bottle for our weekend sojourn to the mountains of southern Colorado, seeing as it was Beaujolais Thursday and all. By the time we get through the other four bottles, the Beaujolais will taste just fine.

Nigel tells a story about how the day used to be commemorated with his friends. They would bugger off of work as early as they could and meet in the pub to drink as much Beaujolais as they could. It was a cheap, if not painful, drunk and who doesn't love slamming down bottle after bottle of plonk during the day with their friends? Ouch.

So, grab a bottle (slightly chilled is best) and some friends to enjoy this festive wine this weekend. Bottoms up!

"Wine is sunlight held together by water." --Galileo