Support Your Local Vinter

Though it was timed to coincide with the annual hype of the Beaujolais Nouveau, this represents very good advice for the year round, and particularly for the Holidays.

This November 20, cases of Beaujolais Nouveau will fall from the sky and land as endcaps in wine shops everywhere. This fall, I encourage you to say NO to the Nouveau – and reach for a local wine instead.

Beaujolais Nouveau is a travesty on at least two levels, one gustatory and one environmental. The grapes for this proto-wine were harvested only three months prior to the airdrop. In some years, they are not ripe enough and need to have their alcohol levels boosted by sugar. And most of the Nouveau is made with carbonic maceration, commercial yeast strains and enzymes to give it a confected taste.