This year's batch of Beaujolais was greeted with great enthusiasm in Philadelphia at the annual "Savor the Reds" wine event at the Warwick Hotel. Although only two true French Beaujolais Nouveaux - Georges DuBoeuf and B&G - were airlifted in for the occasion, it was clear that this year's vintage - available in State Store specialty shops - is excellent.
Both are delightful. Record high temperatures during the summer in France caused the grapes to ripen earlier and develop richer flavors than in recent years.
"It smells like bananas and tastes like cherries," is the typical description of Beaujolais Nouveau. Flavors such as raspberries, black currants and vanilla could be added. But this year, the international excitement and celebration that usually accompany the arrival of the Beaujolais Nouveau has taken on more serious and sobering overtones.
Although shipments of the 1995 Beaujolais Nouveau to the United States have risen, international sales have fallen. In many countries, including Japan, England, New Zealand and Australia, boycotts of Beaujolais Nouveau and French wines in general have been organized to protest France's decision to continue nuclear-weapons tests in the South Pacific. In Tokyo, where Japanese yuppies once paid $20 a glass to be the first to sample the wine, shipments were down 20 to 30 percent.
"Two peace groups staged a demonstration in Tokyo's posh Ginza shopping district, calling for a boycott of the wine," read a report from the Reuters news service.
"In Britain, anti-nuclear protesters planned to demonstrate outside the French embassy and then tour around London with banners saying, 'No Way Beaujolais . . . the wine with the explosive aftertaste.' "
The tradition of Beaujolais Nouveau began as a promotion. Winemakers in Beaujolais used the freshly fermented wine to allow the cafe owners in Lyons to preview the quality of the better, longer-lived vintages from Beaujolais.
