Beaujolais Nouveau 2009 in Japan

Due to the time differences Japan gets each years fresh batch of Beaujoulais Nouveau before any other country in the world. And so, beaujolais nouveau is a big thing here with people rushing to get the first bottles the day and even night, that they arrive.

Beaujoulais Nouveau in Japan from the Convenience Store

I saw in the local convenience store that pamphlets have already appeared for pre-booking your bottle so you get it onh the 18th November before anyone else.

You also get ￥300 off!

There was also an advert in the paper this morning, a hotel is holding a wine tasting on the night of the 17th for ￥8000 ($80) you get to taste 5 different Beaujolais Nouveau’s from 11pm-1am.

I think I’ll wait and pick one up whenever though.

Edit (7th Nov 09): I was just reading in Oishinbo: Sake: A la Carte (a Japanese manga by Tetsu Kariya, primarily about food but recently an English language compilation of the sake/wine stories has been released – highly recommended if you want to learn more about sake and Japanese wineries), about how the rush to be the first to try Beaujolais Nouveau came about.

According to the manga, it was originally a local wine drunk at festivals to celebrate the harvest. However in the mid 1960s the British began a race to see who could bring the Beaujolais Nouveau back to London first after the release date.
This fad then grew worldwide.

You learn something new every day.