vin de primeur

Thanks to our faithful chronicler we are reminded that today—the third Thursday of November—has been set aside as the universal release date of the season’s Beaujolais nouveau, in a tradition among vintners of that region in Burgundy in the Saône Valley that dates back to Roman times with toasting another successful harvest first among the grape-growers formalised in the 1960s from a friendly competition among winemakers to get their vintage first to market. “Le Beaujolais est arrive!” giving the certified varietal (see also) a uniform time of first uncorking. The shelf life of these wines is only one to two years.