Beaujolais Nouveau in Japan

[FG Lurker]

Originally Posted by *******

While not a great wine drinker, I enjoy certain types. Beaujolais Nouveau is not one. But still, you have to marvel at the importers. What a great sales build up. Very few FGs I know will drink Beaujolais by choice, unless it is involved the something Japanessey for business. I have never met anyone from France who has spoke highly of it.

All I can do is shake my head about the BN craze here. Really, the stuff tastes like shit. It's horrible!

I too marvel at the importers and marketers involved in this. Very impressive how they have managed to build such a huge demand for such a crap product. I suppose the Japanese public will catch on sooner or later though... Hopefully, anyway.

[dingosatemybaby]

Originally Posted by FG Lurker

All I can do is shake my head about the BN craze here. Really, the stuff tastes like shit. It's horrible!

I too marvel at the importers and marketers involved in this. Very impressive how they have managed to build such a huge demand for such a crap product. I suppose the Japanese public will catch on sooner or later though... Hopefully, anyway.

I think I posted last year that I was actually told by a French guy hawking BN at a Ginza department store that BN was just shiate, but the Japanese didn't know the difference and didn't care anyway - as long as it's French. I admired his candidness, but I was a little surprised at his contempt for Japanese consumers.

[FG Lurker]

Originally Posted by dingosatemybaby

I think I posted last year that I was actually told by a French guy hawking BN at a Ginza department store that BN was just shiate, but the Japanese didn't know the difference and didn't care anyway - as long as it's French. I admired his candidness, but I was a little surprised at his contempt for Japanese consumers.

Yeah, the French guys I know here also say it is total shit, but that the fun is the tradition of drinking it on the night it is released... Somehow managing to create an "instant tradition" of this in Japan is marketing genius at its finest. I'm not sure if we should shoot the folks who managed to pull this off or congratulate them.

[dimwit]

Originally Posted by Mulboyne

Wine International: Japan remains focus for Beaujolais Nouveau
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A more cynical view about Beaujolais Nouveau can seen here:

Can Japan sales save Beaujolais Nouveau

...Beaujolais growers reportedly pushed yields into the stratosphere. Of course, many vineyards couldn't completely ripen under such heavy fruit loads, but not to worry, chapitalization (a genteel term for adding sugar to the fermentation vat to goose the potential alcohol levels of underripe juice) is legal in all of France. Growers with a pass to the local beet sugar warehouse could keep pumping out volume without worrying about ripeness (c'est la vie). Quality, of course, took a commensurate hit, but with the "race" capturing public imagination, no one seemed to mind (sharp wits in the wine trade used to joke that the only characteristic aroma of Beaujolais Nouveau was the scent of cash flow)....

Following a trees-grow-to-the-sky "planning" philosophy, Japanese importers brought in an astounding 1 million cases of '04 Beaujolais Nouveau, almost all by ruinously expensive airfreight. While Nouveau is best consumed within a few weeks of release, and generally never after Jan. 1, WANDS magazine reported that Beaujolais Nouveau was spotted lingering on retailers' shelves well into the spring, and in some supermarkets even into August -- so much for a refreshing, just-picked taste.

[Greji]

Originally Posted by dimwit

-snip-"....While Nouveau is best consumed within a few weeks of release, and generally never after Jan. 1, WANDS magazine reported that Beaujolais Nouveau was spotted lingering on retailers' shelves well into the spring, and in some supermarkets even into August -- so much for a refreshing, just-picked taste...."

You can find it almost any time of the year at various spots in Tokyo, but right off the vine or not, I can't get into it. So much for the vaunted "taste sensitivity" of the Japanese grape guzzlers! But as others have posted, the parties for the first releases are great!

[Mulboyne]

Telegraph: King of Beaujolais is convicted over adulterated wines

A French wine producer who rose from humble origins to claim the laurel of the "King of Beaujolais" was yesterday convicted of defrauding wine drinkers by mixing low-grade wine with fine vintages. Georges Duboeuf, 72, the erstwhile toast of connoisseurs and top chefs, was found guilty of "fraud and attempted fraud concerning the origin and quality of wines" and fined 30,000 euros...Grapes from the superior Beaujolais "crus", or growing areas, such as Juliénas, Saint-Amour and Morgon, were mixed together and in turn added to the lesser Beaujolais--Villages, whose 2004 harvest was considered poor quality. Such practice is banned under strict rules governing the wine trade, even though the aim was to improve the inferior wine. It was condemned as "shocking" by appellation controlée inspectors...more...

[Taro Toporific]

Originally Posted by dimwit

A more cynical view about Beaujolais Nouveau can seen here:
Can Japan sales save Beaujolais Nouveau

Hmmmm. Things look bad for purple plonk this year in Japan. But hey, does anybody know what these "loopholes in the law" for drunk driving are?

Japan loses taste for Beaujolais
BBC News, Tokyo---Japan's first decline in imports of Beaujolais Nouveau in more than a decade is being blamed on new measures to fight drink-driving. Supermarkets have stopped offering free tastings after a crackdown on drink-driving following an accident in which a driver killed three children.
The young wine goes on sale next week, on the third Thursday in November....
....Supermarkets and retailers are more cautious about importing the wine because they have leftover stock from last year...
....Police have set up more checkpoints to try to catch those under the influence of alcohol.
But campaigners say there are loopholes in the law that allow those who cause accidents when drunk to avoid being prosecuted....

[Captain Japan]

Like square watermelon season it is that time of year to unveil this swill...
This year's Beaujolais Nouveau released to usual fanfare

This year's Beaujolais Nouveau was released at the stroke of midnight Wednesday with the usual fanfare in Japan.

The young wine produced in Beaujolais, Bourgogne, which is traditionally released for consumption worldwide on the third Thursday of November, is particularly popular with wine lovers in Japan.

Importers said this year's Beaujolais Nouveau is well-balanced between fruity and acidic flavors because of favorable weather conditions in France.

Japan is one of the first countries able to enjoy the wine each year due to time differences.

At the Epson Aqua Stadium aquarium at the Shinagawa Prince Hotel in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward, a water tank for sharks and rays was highlighted with wine-red light to commemorate the release of the fresh wine.

[Mulboyne]

露天ボージョレ風呂 - Rotembeaujolaisfuro - in Hakone. From here.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Originally Posted by Mulboyne

露天ボージョレ風呂 - Rotembeaujolaisfuro - in Hakone. From here.

I'd take a bath in it before I'd drink it.