Beaujolais Nouveau, if you have never heard of this wine, that is because you do not live in France and because we have not had a kosher one for two years or so. It is a wine made from the Gamay fruit and one that is quick to be released.

Now there is another wine from the same region, Beaujolais. The Nouveau style wine uses Carbonic Maceration that makes the wine feel sloppy, but gives you really fruity notes, along with weird notes and flavors of fermentation and an incomplete wine. Having made wine myself, with the help of Josh Rynderman, allowed me to watch the entire process of wine making, and it showed me the must/fermentation notes that I am seeing in the Nouveau. Having watched the wine process from end-to-end, I can say that it took time for the wine to leave its pure fruit and must/fermentation state. My Pinot was still smelling like that into December. This Nouveau is bottled 6-8 weeks after harvest!

Now the manner that the Nouveau is produced should normally allow for early release, using a technique called Carbonic Maceration. Carbonic maceration ferments most of the juice while it is still inside the grape. The result is a wine with lighter tannins and fruity wine.

Tasting the two wines was interesting. I will say that it is great that kosherwine.com went out and created a kosher Beaujolais Nouveau! Sadly, it is not a wine for my tastes. The other Beaujolais was very nice, but the 2012 vintage is already starting to fall apart, so drink that up now! There is a new 2013 vintage that I hope to taste soon.

My tasting notes are below:

2016 Duc De Pagny Beaujolais Nouveau – Score: B to B+
Yes, this is a simple wine, like Beaujolais is supposed to be, but it is not my style of wine. The nose is tart with raspberry, esters of grape and fermentation, and overall simple aromas. The mouth is tart and has just enough fruit and tannin to make it work, with strawberry notes, banana, and sour cherry. The acid plays with red fruit, a bit of earth, nice spice, and more fermentation notes.

2012 Beaujolais Cotes de Brouilly – Score: B+ to A- (QPR)
Sadly, this wine is falling apart quickly. Do not open and let rest, this is a wine that is fragile now, so open and drink it within the hour.
Nice earthy nose with good spice, cherry, with dried raspberry, tobacco, and loam. Nice medium body with a simple body but firm attack, still showing great acid, though there is a slight hollow that is growing now with the wine falling off, but showing nice fruit that gives way to nice extraction, boysenberry, graphite, mineral, and great spice. The finish is nice with cloves, smoke, and earth that mingles well with great acid and cherry fruit, dark plum, and more spice. Drink UP!