Something nouveau

It’s the third Thursday in November, and that means it’s the first day they can sell this season’s Beaujolais. It’s been just weeks in the bottle as the harvest would have been around mid August. I can remember when I first worked in London in the early 90’s, it was a big event to get into the office do a couple of hours work, then go for an early lunch to enjoy a bottle of ‘nouveau’ on the day it’s released. I’ve never been in France on the 3rd Thursday in November to enjoy a bottle, so today we grabbed the opportunity – if somewhat encouraged by Lee-Anne, a friend who lives in Châtillon-sur-Seine – to go to the supermarket and buy a bottle. In London, I can honestly say I’d never been that impressed, my experience was that it was a wine with little character at inflated prices. Oh, and superb marketing techniques promoting it.

But after some careful consideration, as I was not up for the bottle costing 2.45 euros, we pushed the boat out and plumped for a top of the range bottle at 5.25 euros. And I have to say it was rather delicious. We had it with a charcuterie platter with gherkins and remoulade to accompany, and finished off with a piece of very gooey, ripened Epoisse, which oozed with a strong spicy taste – all very delicious.