It’s Beaujolais Nouveau Day, when the ‘first of the harvest’ wine goes on sale

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It’s 5 o’clock somewhere, as the saying goes, and indeed, it was 5 a.m. when we at KYW poured ourselves some wine — in the name of journalism, of course. That’s because today is Beaujolais Nouveau Day, when the “first of the harvest” wine goes on sale on the third Thursday of November each year. “It’s the region of France, called Beaujolais, and they cultivate a grape called Gamay to make this wine. And it’s made to be fun and bright, fruity and just delicious,” says Steve Kreps, with the importer Quintessential Wines. But just to fact-check, we swirled, sniffed, and sipped. We found this year's vintage less sweet than recent years. One of our tasters said, “It's giving cough syrup, but in a good way.” We also picked up notes of red currants. Kreps says while we’ve been dealing with a drought, the Beaujolais region suffered one of the wettest springs on record, and many vines had fewer and smaller grapes. But improving conditions and a later harvest in September gave much-needed extra ripening. But if there were any wines to discuss less and enjoy more, it’s Beaujolais Nouveau. And, this youngest of French reds just happens to pair well with turkey and many more dishes on the Thanksgiving table.