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.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort