The red cat

Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé !

That's the phrase that's all over the media and in the stores on the third Thursday of November in France (and elsewhere around the world). The release of the new (young) wine from the Beaujolais region was a marketing event invented around sixty years ago when an exception to a decree allowed certain wines to be released prior to the official release date of December 15.

A recently consumed bottle of Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau.

The fad waxes and wanes from year to year, but it's definitely fun to taste the new wines when they come out. It's become one of those traditions that marks the season, and for us Americans it comes along just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday.

We've already tasted some local primeur wines in addition to a couple of Beaujolais. I think the Beaujolais that we've tasted so far is better than our local "new" wine. The Beaujolais region is not too far away from us, and the grape is the same gamay that's grown here. I'm sure we'll try a few more bottles in the next week or so.

On the wine producer's web site, I found this. The Legend of the Red Cat:

Les toits de nos maisons, en France, sont souvent habités par des chats qui sautent de toit en toit et se font entendre la nuit. Après une bonne soirée entre amis, et quelques verres, il se peut que vous les entendiez aussi. Ne soyez pas effrayé s'ils vous apparaissent « rouges », il peut s’agir du reflet de la lune sur leur pelage… ou de quelques verres de vin qui auront mis de la couleur dans votre vie !

The roofs of our houses in France are often inhabited by cats who leap from roof to roof and make themselves heard at night. After an enjoyable evening among friends, and several glasses of wine, you might just hear them, too. Don't be frightened if they appear "red," it could be the reflection of the moon on their coats... or it could be that those several glasses of wine have put color in your life!