At just after midnight, on Thursday, the first bottle of this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau was uncorked to much jubilation at Pied de Cochon brasserie in Paris.The restaurant has become a well-known spot for celebrating the annual ritual. It’s traditional to open a bottle after the clock strikes twelve on the third Thursday of November.

The wine, which is bottled only weeks after the grapes are harvested, is meant to be consumed young, within months of bottling, and offers a preview of what the vintage will express each year.

“The last few years of grape growing in France have been a lesson in patience and perseverance, but this vintage was quite different,” remarked Franck Duboeuf, CEO of Les Vins Georges Duboeuf and son of the late Georges Duboeuf. “Record high temperatures and drought conditions meant the grapes ripened earlier than normal and were small due to lack of rainfall. The result was a perfectly balanced fruit with a high concentration of flavour — we’re delighted with the outcome.”

Historically to mark the start of a new wine season, Beaujolais Nouveau Day, on which more than one million cases of Beaujolais wine start their journey from the Beaujolais region of France across the country.

Beaujolais Nouveau, a vin de primeur, is fermented for just a few weeks before being released for sale, making it differ from other French wines as it is drunk almost immediately after harvesting.

The red wine, made from Gamay grapes, begins a race to get the first bottles out to markets around the world.

The wine is sold in 110 countries around the world and Beaujolais Nouveau Day is often marked with fireworks, music and festivals. Believe it or not Japan imorts the most followed by the USA and the UK.

PART OF THE TEAM OUTSIDE ‘RUN HQ,’EL ZOCO CALAHONDA  IN THE NINETIES

Many years ago in the early eighties, I and a group of friends did a Beaujolais Run on a double decker bus. It’s a long story but highly

IAN GILES CELEBRATING ANOTHER VICORY. BEAUJOLAIS TO CALAHONDA IN 10 HOURS

entertaining. This we continued to do (not always on a double decker) for many years. Even arriving here in 1986 I did two Beaujolais Runs with my friend Ian Giles as lead driver accompanied by Martin Nathan, now owner of Talk Radio Europe and on another occasion Toni Dali and his sons joined in, Capt Gordon Bland and Onde Cero International. Lately it doesn’t have the same mystique as it is now delivered to local suppliers world wide by the Friday or Saturday at the latest. (you can read about our Beaujolais escapades in my book, “Half My Life” available on Amazon)