Beaujolais Nouveau 2010 Ripe For Picking

Like millionaires are known to shop at Target and Costco, so too do the wealthy buy Beaujolais Nouveau when it arrives every November.

The bottles hitting retailers this month usually range from just $7.50 to $10.00, and are most welcome at Thanksgiving tables this week along with the rest of the Fall harvest.

Beaujolais Nouveau, made of the Gamay grape, has a thin skin and is low in tannins. The Nouveau has been fermented for just a few weeks. Beaujolais tends to be a very light red wine, with relatively high amounts of acidity and low alcohol levels.

Many serious wine drinkers do not like, nor do they drink Beaujolais Nouveau, calling it a marketing gimmick to sell bulk wine. Others, though, find it easy, light, agreeable and just the ticket for Thanksgiving tables that are often full of guests who just want a nice easy wine to drink with turkey.

In keeping with tradition, the first BNs were uncorked November 19, the third Thursday of November.

Dominique Capart, the head of Inter Beaujolais, an association promoting the wine, said that this year's wine is a real treat and that the red fruits, the black currant, and the raspberries can even be smelled, it is so crisp and smooth in the mouth.

I sampled two so far: George Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau 2010 and Rochette Beaujolais Nouveau 2010, and both were just as advertised: easy, warm, agreeable, with lots of raspberry, blackberry and currant.