'First' wine of 2008 arrives
SHELTON -- It's an annual event; a much-anticipated yearly ritual celebrated around the world.
Thursday was Beaujolais Nouveau Day, the last Thursday before Thanksgiving, the day when the French send the very first pressings of wine from the year's harvest to become available in liquor stores in the United States.
According to tradition, at one past midnight (local time) on the third Thursday of each November, little villages and towns in Burgundy send more than a million cases of new Beaujolais wine through a sleeping France to Paris for immediate shipment to all parts of the world.
The wine is celebrated not so much for its fruity, simple flavor as for its symbolism.
If you want to raise a toast on Thanksgiving Day to the good things you have to be thankful for this year, then the first wine to be pressed this year is the way to do it, the theory goes.
Americans consume the third greatest quantity of Nouveau ("new" in French), just behind Germany and Japan.
Thursday, Gail Gorlo, owner of The Wine Emporium at 702 Bridgeport Avenue, swirled a glass of nouveau under her nose and then gave it a sip.
She was pleased.
"It's very nice. Very fruity. I taste black cherries," she said, smiling.
Donnie Dennis of Torrington, who was shopping for wine in Shelton after getting off work in Trumbull, tried the Beaujolais for the first time in his life.
"It's very good," he said, after Gorlo offered him a glass. "I think I'll buy a bottle tonight."
Beaujolais Nouveau is the export product of 2,500 individual wineries in the Burgundy region of France.
It is made from Gamay grapes, harvested in the fall and bottled six to eight weeks after harvesting.
It has not been a good year for the French of Burgundy. Bad weather in August affected many vines, and some vineyards were wiped out. The vintners said it was their worst year since 1975.
Traditionally, American liquor stores order a small supply to have in time for Thanksgiving. It was selling for about $12 a bottle Thursday.
After Thanksgiving, larger shipments by boat will arrive and it will sell for about $10 a bottle.