Quand arrive le nouveau beaujolais?

[winodj]

When does the first of the 2002s start finding its way to the stores in the US? And will it be worth buying this year?

[Shermar]

The third Thursday in November(Jeudi troisieme de Novembre).

Quality? Usually plonk. n'est-ce pas?

[winodj]

I am unfamiliar with the term "plonk." Sorry, my French is rusty. :-)

I had a couple OK bottles last year, nothing hugely special. But I also had a bottle of Cherry Kool-Aid masking as Nouveau Beaujolais.

[Shermar]

Plonk is poor quality wine. I happen to believe Beaujolais Nouveau is perhaps the biggest, most successful marketing rip-off on this planet. It is a plan the French hatched to rid themselves of mediocre, young wine that THEY would never drink.

[tommy]

we really don't enjoy this wine, do we? i buy a few bottles a year just to serve to my friends who would normally be swilling something from a keg. it's festive. but generally horrible.

i think that last year's batch was supposed to be exceptional in some way. i recall it was borderline undrinkable. but then again i'm a snob.

[tommy]

Plonk is poor quality wine.  I happen to believe Beaujolais Nouveau is perhaps the biggest, most successful marketing rip-off on this planet.  It is a plan the French hatched to rid themselves of mediocre, young wine that THEY would never drink.

at least it introduces the average person to *some* aspect of french wine.

[winodj]

I think I may have a Nouveau Beaujolais party this year. After all, most of my friends are impressed when the wine doesn't come from a box. :sigh:

[tighe]

Plonk is poor quality wine.  I happen to believe Beaujolais Nouveau is perhaps the biggest, most successful marketing rip-off on this planet.  It is a plan the French hatched to rid themselves of mediocre, young wine that THEY would never drink.

Yeah, but the labels are REALLY PRETTY!! Isn't that what counts when picking a wine after all??

[tommy]

Yeah, but the labels are REALLY PRETTY!!  Isn't that what counts when picking a wine after all??   

yeah, i usually buy the wine with the butterfly on it. or is it the pretty leaf. oh i don't know. they're both really good though.

[Suzanne F]

Plonk is poor quality wine.  I happen to believe Beaujolais Nouveau is perhaps the biggest, most successful marketing rip-off on this planet.  It is a plan the French hatched to rid themselves of mediocre, young wine that THEY would never drink.

Yeah, but the labels are REALLY PRETTY!! Isn't that what counts when picking a wine after all??

Re Shermar's comment: I always thought "plonk" was English English. N'est-ce pas, Wilfrid?

Oh, tighe, for beautiful labels, look to your own region Oregon and Washington (and even Idaho) put out some damn good wines with nifty artwork both inside AND outside the bottles.

When I was doing pastry, the beverage manager at the restaurant offered me several cases of the previous year's New Beauj. I tried, god knows I tried to use it -- reduced to flavor ice cream (kind of greyish pink ), as a sweetened reduced syrup -- nothing worked. YUCK.

[tommy]

speaking of pretty labels, i always liked lang & reeds label. and their cab franc is pretty chewy too.