posted by admin on Nov 20
Jean-Paul Brun, producer of the 2007 Terre Dorées. (Image courtesy of louisdressner.com)
Last Thursday was Nov. 15, which, as assiduous students of mass marketing know, is the day that the Beaujolais nouveau can legally be sold. Despite the slogan — le Beaujolais nouveau est arrivé — it usually arrives days before and sits until the 15th.
As you may remember I’m not much of a fan of Beaujolais nouveau. In the hands of the big producers it tends to be a marketing ploy first and foremost. In the glass, it’s a cloying, candied affair.
But in the last few days I happened to have two excellent Beaujolais nouveau, and as long as I’m trashing most of them I feel compelled to tell you about the really good ones.
I never would have guessed that the first, the 2007 Terre Dorées from Jean-Paul Brun, was a nouveau. It tasted complete, even structured, yet it had the joyous glugability that is a necessary nouveau feature. Brun, of course, is one of the best Beaujolais producers and clearly he puts the same sort of care and passion into his nouveau that he does his other Beaujolais.
The second came from a producer I had not heard of before, Cédric Vincent. I tasted it in Berkeley, while visiting with Kermit Lynch, who imports the wine, and was surprised, particularly because we had just tried another nouveau that was as candied and uninspiring as most nouveaus. This one was juicy and delicious, and, as I wrote in my notes, “Now this is real wine!’’
I tasted a lot of wines while spending an afternoon with Kermit. You can read my profile of him in this Wednesday’s newspaper, and I will write a little more about the wines we tasted in my next post.
Source: Beaujolais Nouveau That’s Worth a Try
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