Beaujolais producers looking to China market

Thursday marks 60 years since Beaujolais Nouveau first went on sale in mid-November, marking the arrival of the first wines from the French harvest. 

The hype around the annual launch of Beaujolais Nouveau, a young red wine that is sold within weeks of the grapes being harvested in the south-eastern French region of Beaujolais, has propelled the wine to international stardom. 

Starting in Japan and moving west with the sun, tens of thousands of bottles of the 'vin de primeur' - a young wine, which cannot be stored - will be popped open at midnight Thursday, when Beaujolais Nouveau goes on sale worldwide. 

It's a trend reflected in overall sales for Beaujolais Nouveau. This year, 280,000-300,000 hectolitres of the wine are expected to be sold, down from 450,000-500,000 hectolitres in the wine's heyday in the 1990s.

Japan accounts for about half of all exports of Beaujolais Nouveau, with the Japanese knocking back 7 million bottles out of the 15.5 million bottles sold in 110 countries last year. 

The United States was the second-biggest export destination, absorbing some 2.4 million bottles.

For future growth, Beaujolais producers are looking to emerging markets. 

'Brazil and Russia are really coming up, China a bit less,' Jean Bourjade of Inter Beaujolais told dpa. 'These Chinese still prefer Bordeaux.'