Vine-covered Beaujolais hillsides in the summer of 2007; the 2014 Georges Dubeouf Beaujolais Nouveau
It's been three decades since restaurateurs Mick McHugh and Tim Firnstahl organized the first Beaujolais Nouveau parties in Seattle, even flying several cases from Paris to Seattle on the Concorde. I'd been invited to join the scouting trip, an experience that would set me on an unexpected path as the organizer of luxury wine tours to France and Italy under the name France In Your Glass.
In the meantime, the French-American Chamber of Commerce, Pacific Northwest Chapter, has taken over sponsorship of the Beaujolais Nouveau Wine Festival as an annual fund-raiser. This year's event takes place on Friday night at the Columbia Tower Club. French-born Dominic Holden will return from New York to act as master of ceremonies. (Sheesh! He's only been there three weeks!) Last I heard they'd sold out of VIP and Young Professional tickets but had a few of the "regular" ($85) tickets available.
I had the chance to taste the first wine of the vintage from the largest importer, Georges Duboeuf, whose wines usually have a characteristic fruity aroma from the proprietary yeast he uses for the wine's unique fermentation process known as carbonic maceration. Not the case this year, at least not in the sample bottle. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, since BN is often criticized for being too "simple" a wine; this year, it seems we'll have more dark cherry notes.
And if I haven't said so before, BN makes a great wine for Thanksgiving turkey.
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