Written by United Planet Team Member Julie

Every year on the third Thursday of each November, French people celebrate the new arrival of a particular wine: the Beaujolais nouveau — or the new Beaujolais, for English speakers. But what is it, and what are we celebrating?

The Beaujolais nouveau is a red wine made with a particular grape variety and fermented for just a few weeks in the Beaujolais region of France. This is a beautiful region with a wide range of wine-growing domains and many castles. You should go there if you would like to experience and enjoy several types of wine. Compared to other red wines, it is a particularly lightweight and fruity wine, and that makes Beaujolais’ people very proud! This wine is intended for immediate drinking, and is not kept for more than a year.

Consequently, during one night all the French people from Beaujolais through the Southwest of France celebrate the fresh made Beaujolais Nouveau. This is a great opportunity for people to share their love of wine. Often these tasting moments are accompanied by music, sausage and pâté. It’s how we share our French roots and our love of wine! In France, an old proverb says, “one glass of wine per day is good for your health”! So crazy, the French!

I am studying in the Southwest of France in the so-called “pink” city, Toulouse. The second most populated student city in France. Beaujolais’ Nouveau night is particularly intense here. Indeed, even if students have class, they celebrate Beaujolais Nouveau all through the night. Bars, bistros, and cafés are open all night and offer an incredible choice of Beaujolais Nouveau. You meet all generations of people! It is amazing!

Everyone should buy their airline tickets now and try this incredible cultural experience!

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Tags: Beaujolais Nouveau, France, French Festival, Toulouse, United Planet, wine

This entry was posted on Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 9:04 am and is filed under Festival, France, Team Stories, United Planet. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

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