Celebration of Beaujolais Nouveau
On November 24 in Riga Club «Kaļķu Vārti» the Ambassador of France in Latvia Mrs. Chantal Poiret opened the traditional Beaujolais Wine Festival.
The holiday «Beaujolais Nouveau» is the national holiday. Wine from a grape «Gamay», which is traditionally grown in the Beaujolais, is not adapted for long storage, but it ripens faster than Burgundy or Bordeaux wines, and especially in a young age it differs from the others by a rich flavoring and aromatic bouquet.
Currently, statistics of the sales of Beaujolais are following: it is imported by 120 countries, in the amount of 55 million bottles, what is nearly the half of the total amount produced in France.
An assistant of the Embassy of France Mr. Jean-François Dathie continued the story about the holiday of wine and suggested a toast with the wine of Beaujolais.
The wine is ideal combining it with meat dishes, the goat cheese, seafood, dishes from a fish force meat, snails and sushi. However, according to wine makers, everyone may trust his own culinary imagination and serve «Beaujolais Nouveau» to any kitchen.
In France, «Beaujolais» is called «Cheerful and impudent wine». Its intense and even harsh taste is due to the peculiarities of its production – every hour is important. If the wine is poured three hours earlier than necessary, then it will be too light and slightly pigmented, and on the contrary, if it is done three hours later, the young wine will be dim and too tart.
For sustaining the young wine continuously fresh, aromatic, with intense fruit flavors, is practiced maceration for 4-5 days. During infusion of the wine most of the fruit flavors with no tartness can be gotten.
Since 1985, the date of beginning the sales of the young Beaujolais is fixed: it is the third Thursday of November.
And let’s join the world-famous statement «Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!" (The Beaujolais Nouveau has arrived!).
Jean-Luc Harmant – Second Secretary of the Embassy of France and James Samuel
Julia Kunga DEC assistant, Marta Stolyarova First Secretary of the Embassy of the Czech Republic, Vladimir Lavo – Counselor Embassy of the Slovak Republic