Each year it’s fun to buy this early wine. Nouveau means New. It is a 2010 wine that is not aged so it tastes very much like grape juice with some alcohol. I have described it as grape Nehi with a splash of vodka. They squeeze the grapes, let them ferment a bit and the bottle them. Two months ago this wine was grapes on the vine.

It is a fun wine, and us usually not very good. For me it is a Thanksgiving tradition to sample the first bottle of Nouveau with the turkey.

This year the Beaujolais Nouveau is just dreadful. I can’t remember a year where it was worse. My reaction was yuck when I tasted it. The first shipments of nouveau are usually not as good as later ones, but you’d have to get a lot better for this year’s batch to be drinkable.

I have two bottles left and I will drink them – bad wine is better than no wine. The first shipments are shipped by air and the later bottles show up in early December might be shipped on boats. When the next shipments appear in about two weeks they will be a little cheaper and possibly better tasting.

Last year the second wave of beaujolais nouveau was pretty good and I bought a case which I drank well into January. This year I don’t think I’ll be going for a case.