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A grape way to give thanks
The new Beaujolais arrives this week, just in time to perk up holiday feasts and festivities.
By JANET K. KEELER
Published November 15, 2006
There is not much serious about Beaujolais nouveau except for the frenzy it causes every year on the third Thursday of November. That's the day, according to French law, when wine made from gamay grapes harvested in the hilly area north of Lyon barely two months ago can be uncorked. It's a wine meant to be enjoyed now, not cellared for a special occasion you don't even know about yet. And for Americans who drink more white wine than red, Beaujolais nouveau is the next best thing. The new vintage also coincides with the beginning of the holiday season here, adding to its celebratory feel. To welcome the little red wine with the big marketing campaign, restaurants stage special dinners, offering food to complement the light, fruity young wine. Liquor stores and wine shops across the country and around Tampa Bay will be pouring samples all day tomorrow. Publix is getting a jump on everyone by having a free tasting from 10 p.m. to midnight tonight at one of its St. Petersburg stores 200 37th Ave. N; (727 895-1670). It may still be Nov. 15 here, but by tonight, it'll be Nov. 16 in France. "This is a fun wine, great for Thanksgiving," says Janice Keller, managing partner of the Wine Warehouse in St. Petersburg (5571 Fourth St. N; (727) 527-7000). "The herbs (common in many holiday dishes) take away flavor from the full-bodied reds. Beaujolais nouveau is lighter." Like white wine, Beaujolais nouveau should be served slightly colder than room temperature but not ice cold. Pull it out of the refrigerator about an hour before dinner, Keller says. The Wine Warehouse staff, wearing French berets of course, will be pouring free tastes from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday. "We buy enough so we might have it around for six months or more," Keller says. "They sell well in summer months too and by the time a year rolls around, they start to fade." About 10 labels of Beaujolais nouveau will reach local shelves, among them Mommessin, Bouchard, Drouhin and Georges duBoeuf. Georges duBoeuf is one of France's largest and best-known French wine merchants and is known as the king of Beaujolais. It's a bit early to tell if the 2006 will be as legendary as the 2003 but reports from Mommessin are hopeful. The killer heat wave that brought such suffering to Europe in summer 2003, also brought incredibly intense flavor to that year's grapes. Mommessin's 2006 harvest report says that dry conditions and cool temperatures "left us with an extremely broad sample of ripe grapes." "Even at our first tasting, we found the wines particularly aromatic," the report says. "The range of aromas is broad. Among the most frequently detected are blackberry, wild blueberry, black currant, wild strawberry, red currant as well as a few floral aromas such as lilac, iris and violet." Also, mentioned were notes of fennel and cinnamon. All that in a bottle of wine for less than $10 and perhaps as low as $8. Liquid Fruit Stripe gum anyone? Information from Times files and the New York Times was used in this report. Janet K. Keeler can be reached at (727) 893-8586 or jkeeler@sptimes.com
[Last modified November 14, 2006, 10:23:33]
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