France celebrates Beaujolais Nouveau

It’s time again to pop the corks on bottles of Beaujolais Nouveau, the polarizing French wine that makes for good fun once a year.


French law prohibits new batches of the light-bodied and fruity wine, made from Gamay grapes, from being served until the third Thursday in November, making the opening of the rapidly aged and bottled wine an event.


If there aren’t quite as many celebrations this year, it might be because the harvest in Beaujolais was predicted to be half what it was in 2011 (perhaps the lowest production in 10 years) as a result of the poor spring weather, The Washington Post reports..


But Beaujolais producers have insisted that small berries mean concentrated flavor, thus more complex 2012 wines. Finer restaurants reportedly say none of it matters much, because they really only carry enough Beaujolais Nouveau for one free-spirited night of sipping.