I just opened a 2003 Beaujolais Nouveau

[Rabrrrrrr]

I needed to make room in my wine rack, and I found the bottle and thought, "Oh, this has GOT to be skunked and rancid by now; I'll toss it out and make room for a viable wine". But, I couldn't pour it out without opening it, and I couldn't open it without at least giving it a taste to see how truly horrifically it had gone bad... and lo and behold, it's not gone bad.

It's a Georges Dubeouf, so it's crap (which is why I never drank it before, since I had a fresh one in 2003 that was crap, just like all the other of their wines I've had the misfortune of spending money on), but I was surprised that it wasn't crappy because it's 3 years old.

Go figure.

It's probably so piss-poorly made, like the rest of their wines, that it doesn't even have the right stuff in it to skunk.

[Drum]

1. Yucko.

Glad you're clearing that out. I agree with yr opinion on the GDeB...I try to find any other that's available.

Does anyone know when this year's release of the Beaujolais Nouveau is?

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. It should be soon - November is the month that they come out!

Sadly, I now live in a town that has none. When I moved here, the first November I went to three or four liquor/wine stores and asked, "When is the Beaujolais Nouveau coming in?" and they all looked at me, even the managers, with blank stares. A couple of them said, "Oh, the Beaujolais are over here", and I said, "No, the Nouveau" and they said, "over there" and I said, "No, I know they haven't come out yet" and they just stared at me, dumbly.

And then I gave up.

Sad.

It was always such a big event in NYC, with wine tastings and excitement and fun.

I'm glad to hear that someone else thinks GDB is crap. Nice labels, but it never tastes good.

[Drum]

3. Yes, DeB is like the Hershey's of wine.....nt

[KatyaR]

4. Le Beaujolais is always released

on the third Thursday in November--I have it marked on my calendar so I don't forget!

I've not had a bottle sit for three years, but I know that letting it rest for even a year seems to help. I'm not a big deBeauf fan either. My favorite was the Berringer, but they didn't make any last year, so all I could find was the deBeauf and Louis Tete, which isn't too bad.

[Drum]

5. Thanks for the reminder!

:)

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. Every bottle of BN that I've accidentally let sit for a year has been the suck

My experience is that letting it sit that long does not help.

The two or three bottles that accidenally got left that long (a year or so) were not at all good when I opened them.

But then, all tastes are different - and I could very well have been drinking wines in my area that you didn't have in yours, and vice versa, and perhaps the wines you got were of a sort that did age well.

Or, you might have been buying better quality ones than I did (I don't think I ever bought one over $10 - so that could be the difference).

[KatyaR]

24. I would say part of it was probably luck

and the rest was just that I don't know what good wine tastes like (or I do and just drink it anyway).

I've had some bottles go bad and others still be good over a year later, but I always try to drink whatever I have on hand in pretty short order. I hate throwing away wine!

[Maine-ah]

6. I wouldn't even touch the stuff after 4-5 months myself.

GDB hasn't put out a BN that was even really drinkable in close to ten years. Last years was horrendus. Had a nose of bananas, and red fruit. ICK.

[xchrom]

8. ok -- GACK! -- bananas and red wine.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. I really like Beaujolais Nouveau, though I don't care much for most red wines.

But you gotta drink it fairly quickly or it gets weird. I'm surprised it was still drinkable after 3 years. One of the big local liquor stores makes a huge deal of its arrival every year, and I always try to snag a few bottles for Thanksgiving if possible. I got some really good stuff two years ago (not GDB), but damn, I can't remember now what it was.

Mmmmm! Beaujolais Nouveau!

[benny05]

10. Congrats

Considering it's supposed to be consumed "young" you are lucky. Can you use it for cooking?

[Rabrrrrrr]

11. I thought I'd save it for a coq au vin, or maybe just a wine sauce

with a steak sometime.

Not quite what I want to drink; but it's not bad, so I think it would be a good sauce start.

[benny05]

12. Usually Coq au Vin is Cote de Rhone

But I agree it would suffice in this case..

[Rabrrrrrr]

13. That's what I usually use, but in this case, I think it would work.

Especially since I have some crappy old frozen chicken thighs - might as well make a pot of it with dreggy ingredients, and get 'em out of the freezer and the fridge. :-)

[benny05]

15. I wish I could cook with you and yours

Sounds fun..

Riso Verde might be nice with that dish...

[Rabrrrrrr]

23. One never knows what the future might hold!

Perhaps some day we shall break bread together.

Hopefully over a better wine than an old BN, though.

[trof]

14. Back in the day, I'd haul a 747 full of that stuff to Japan.

"AT ONE MINUTE PAST MIDNIGHT on the third Thursday of each November, from little villages and towns like Romanèche-Thorins, over a million cases of Beaujolais Nouveau begin their journey through a sleeping France to Paris for immediate shipment to all parts of the world. Banners proclaim the good news: Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé! "The New Beaujolais has arrived!" One of the most frivolous and animated rituals in the wine world has begun."
http://www.intowine.com/beaujolais2.html

We'd pick up a plane load that had come into JFK from Paris.
6 hour flight?
Get it to Anchorage in about 6 1/2 hours.
The next crew would take the bird on to Narita in about another 7-8 hours.
Due to time zones, the Japanese were always the first to crack the new wine.
It was always a helluva big deal there.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

16. Fly that 747 over to MSP. I'll meet you there and we can throw a party.

A HUGH!!11!! party.

[democracyindanger]

17. Are you drinking it

in your highbacked leather chair in front of the fireplace, your loyal mastiff at your feet, reading Proust waiting for your valet to finish running your bath?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

18. Or are you sprawled in your naugahyde La-Z-Boy,

clad in your raggedy sweatpants and stained t-shirt, your unknown-breed dawg lying on his back nearby, farting; as you watch WWF wrestling on your teevee while waiting for your ol' lady to bring you another slice of lukewarm pizza and drinking your three-year-old Beaujolais Nouveau right out of the bottle?

[Rabrrrrrr]

20. Actually, I passed out for a moment and dumped the bottle in my lap,

so now I'm drinking it by sucking it out of my underwear, which absorbed pretty much of all it; so I guess I'm also technically sitting on the lazy-boy naked from the waist down.

[Rabrrrrrr]

19. Hah! I wish!! Of couse, that's not the valet's job, it's the Ewerer's.

But my stupid Ewerer tripped over one of the scullery maids earlier today and fell down one of the elevator shafts, so I have a rather ignorant cooper running my bath tonight. I give most of the staff Saturday nights off, so I had few choices of replacement for valet, and I certainly wasn't gonna ask the Cottar or Gong Farmer.

[democracyindanger]

21. You and your Gong Farmer.

I'm shocked that you haven't realized how rude it is to keep lording your Gong Farmer over everybody. Or maybe that's the point.

Insufferable.

[Rabrrrrrr]

22. Until the entire manse is updated, which will take a few years yet,

I mean, they can only do so many tens of thousands of square feet a month, I need my Gong Farmers - I will, however, be very glad when their services are no longer needed and we have proper sewage. And a more proper smell in the south side of the north end of the east wing.

[Pacifist Patriot]

25. I'm impressed.

Not with GdeB, (yuck!), but the fact a 2003 Beaujolais Nouveau hadn't turned. You've just reminded me it's about that time, isn't it?

[Seabiscuit]

26. There are some fine beaujolais wines. Unfortunately, Duboeuf isn't one

of them.

For slightly less money, Louis Jadot's beaujolais is much better.

BTW, 3 years is not old for a wine. Not by a long shot.

If I were you I'd cork it and use it for marinating steak.

[Rabrrrrrr]

27. 3 years is not old for a normal, wine, no - but for Nouveau, it's outrageously

past its lifetime.

The Nouveaus should be drunk within months.

[LynneSin]

29. You don't mess around with Nouveaus when you buy them

If I buy a Nouveau, it's because I want something to drink that night

[Seabiscuit]

30. Decades ago I was that way with Annie Greensprings. :0)~

I guess Georges Duboeuf either has a very bizarre wine making process or he doesn't have a clue about how to effectively cork a bottle of wine.

[LynneSin]

28. Georges Dubeouf is like the Wal-Mart of wine makers

I do love Beaujolais but I avoid anything by Dubeouf.

Lately if I'm doing reds I'm getting a pinotage from South Africa. That's my new favorite country for wine!

[Book Lover]

31. I don't know much about wine, but

wouldn't Beaujolais be Nouveau by definition?