BEAUJOLAIS NOUVEAU

noun (Lifestyle and Leisure) Beaujolais wine that is sold while still in the first year of a vintage. Etymology: French for 'new Beaujolais'. History and Usage: Beaujolais Nouveau was made commercially available in the early seventies, and, although it had been allowed no time to mature and in consequence struck some wine-lovers as very acidic, it proved an instant success. Its popularity led to the development of a new sport in the hotel and catering world: the race to be the first to have the new year's vintage in stock. Some wine bars and restaurants even went to the lengths of having stocks flown in by helicopter so as to pip others at the post. As the eighties progressed, signboards saying 'The Beaujolais Nouveau has arrived' became a common sight on pavements outside these places in mid November. Beaujolais Primeur (literally 'early-season Beaujolais') is the correct term for Beaujolais sold during the first few months of the vintage (from mid November until the end of January), and is sometimes used interchangeably with Beaujolais Nouveau, but Beaujolais Nouveau is much better known in English. A wine shipper telephoned that he'd reserved me fifty cases of Beaujolais Nouveau for November 15th...I never waited for the Nouveau to be delivered but fetched it myself. Dick Francis Proof (1984), p. 76