On November 21, the third Thursday of November, the 2002 Beaujolais Nouveau will be introduced around the world to the usual flurry of giddy publicity and a salute of popping corks worthy of royalty.
In places as far-flung as Bangkok, Prague and San Francisco, banners reading Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrive (Beaujolais Nouveau is here) will usher in what Michel Rougier of the Interprofessional Union of Beaujolais Wines described as "the world's biggest pagan celebration."
Unfortunately, this year the wine makers from the Beaujolais region are not in a celebratory mood -- and one reason is that the success of the Beaujolais Nouveau is beginning to weigh on the entire appellation.
Some 13 million bottles -- or about 8 per cent of the annual production -- of 2001 Beaujolais wines are being removed this year from store shelves to be declassified.
This means that about 100,000hl (10,000kl) of wine will be sold off for industrial use in vinegar or other alcohol, or it will simply be poured down the drain -- an unhappy first in the proud history of Beaujolais wines.
The reason for the move was that nobody was buying.
According to Beaujolais wine producer Yves Bonnet, the wine has become a victim of its own success.
"For years, the worry was to produce enough wine to meet the demand," he said. "Nobody asked himself any questions. So, from a bar wine, Beaujolais has become a supermarket wine. More than half of our production is sold at supermarkets today."
And because most of the Beaujolais wines sold in French supermarkets are low-priced and of mediocre quality, the wine's image has suffered at home.
But even more damaging to the wine's reputation, many wine makers say, is that the global success of Beaujolais Nouveau has turned it into the flagship product for the entire range of Beaujolais wines.
"With Beaujolais Nouveau, our wine has become the product of an instant, sold for two weeks at a ridiculous price and then forgotten," Bonnet said.
The owner of a Paris wine store agreed.
"Many consumers end by being convinced that the Beaujolais is good only in November." he said.
The reason is that, despite its red color, the Nouveau is really more of a white wine in taste, aroma and complexity and does not improve with age.
This is because the must is pressed after only three days of maceration and the astringent tannins usually found in red wines -- which lend them their depth and capacity for aging -- are missing.
The easy-to-drink wine that results is more suited for quick gulping than sipping, and has been dismissed by critics as being little more than fancy fruit punch.
In addition, because of its short vat maceration time, additional yeasts are added, including isoamyl acetate, which lends a banana flavor to the Nouveau that is much appreciated by casual drinkers in Japan and the US -- but is despised by wine lovers.
The situation has become so dire that one Beaujolais wine-maker lamented that "the image of Beaujolais [wine] is so negative that I wonder if it wouldn't sell better without a label".
He had good reason to complain. In October 2001, he sold his wine for 160 euros per hectolitre; in early summer 2002, wine merchants offered him a mere 70 euros.
And the crisis is starting to hit Beaujolais Nouveau itself.
While about 58,000 bottles will be put on the market on November 21, about the same as last year, the demand has slumped badly in Germany, formerly the Nouveau's number one foreign market.
As a result, exporters are forced to look for new markets for the Beaujolais Nouveau, such as in Asia and eastern Europe.
But professionals warn that this is not the way out of the crisis. According to wine-maker Gilles Gelin, the emphasis must be on quality again -- for both the Nouveau and the standard Beaujolais wines.
"We must show that we are capable of making very nice [Nouveaus], round and easy to drink, but also very good wines for aging," he said.
And whatever strategy is chosen, Gelin said that it must be undertaken soon.
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