Beaujolais Nouveau - Green and early
Typically Beaujolais Nouveau wines are released the Thursday prior to Thanksgiving, which means many bottles of the fruity French vino can be found scattered around the turkey covered and pie-laden countertops of whatever house I happen to be dining in. This year the red wine is going green, thanks to Boisset and Georges Duboeuf.
First, a quick study: Beaujolais Nouveau is a fairly light red wine created from Gamay grapes. As you may have guessed, it is from the Beaujolais region of France.
It is made to drink, not store, and even its creation is quick, fermenting for only a few weeks.
You'll find plenty of wine snobs that think the wine is too weak or lacking in maturity. Ignore them. It's very drinkable and the fact that it is only available for a short time makes enjoying it all the more, well, enjoyable.
It's actually those same factors that are allowing the major manufacturers of the wine to take it green by distributing it in plastic bottles rather than glass. This means you shouldn't store it for over 3 years, but you really shouldn't be storing it anyway. Drink it!
How does plastic make it green? The weight of the plastic bottle is much lighter than that of glass which transfers into much lower energy output in the transport of the wine.
Another step being taken is delivering the wine via ship than plane. This required permission by the French government to release the vintage earlier in the season to allow for shipping.
Both of these steps, plastic bottles and sea shipments, respectively, are expected to lower the cost of the wine by about $2 per bottle, which is a little something the kids call, "bonus!"
Interesting aside for this story, a major player in making this happen is America's own organic grocery chain, Whole Foods. Good on you, Whole Foods.
[via MSNBC]
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