Beaujolais and bubbles

Beaujolais nouveaux – is it vieux chapeau?!!!

It's dark November, bonfire night is over, Christmas not yet begun – so here are two distinctly different excuses to party....from petillance to full on fizz.

The year was 1972, Terry Wogan first hosted his Radio 2 breakfast show, the Watergate Scandal hit the news headlines, and most importantly in this year 1972 Alan Hall, wine critic of The Sunday Times, challenged his readers and fellow journalists to be the first to bring back a few bottles of the new Beaujolais harvest to his desk.

Before this time there had always been a race in France to get the new vintage to the Parisian restaurants, but this was something new internationally and instigated a significant marketing opportunity – not to be missed in the fun, “go for it”, non PC 70’s! Referred to as The Wacky Races it was taken to heart by all and sundry who welcomed any excuse for a party and so just seconds after the official release time of the new wine (the third Thursday of November), it was transported back to U.K. by every imaginable form of transport, from rickshaw, balloon, helicopter and even the RAF in a Harrier jump jet....everyone got involved! Sadly those heady days have passed but the tradition lives on albeit in rather a more staid and elitist fashion featuring vintage cars and 5 star hotels ......I wouldn’t say no!

Beaujolais Nouveau is a lightweight red best served chilled – yes – and made 100% from Gamay grapes harvested entirely by hand. The grapes are fermented very briefly before bottling and the resulting fruity fresh taste is unmistakable, quaffable and in my view still very worthy of celebration. Nowadays it is extremely popular in America as it arrives on the market just a week before the Thanksgiving festival – and just happens to be a perfect accompaniment to the American way of serving turkey and all the trimmings. Karen Page and Andrew Donenburg, authors of “The Flavour Bible” and contributors to The Washington Post, say that Beaujolais Nouveau and Thanksgiving “have become as inextricably linked as Champagne and New Year's Eve”.

Allan Hall (he of wacky races fame), was one of the old school infamous Fleet Street hacks. For many of the journalists lunch began at around 11 or earlier and would stretch on till the last one passed out (often in the wee small hours). They had incredible stamina and I’m still not sure when they found the time to write. They were a charismatic bunch. In 1980 Allan Hall wrote for James Goldsmith’s NOW magazine and hosted a particular lunch where fine wines were consumed and for which he claimed expenses (and was paid) £11, 000, that’s the equivalent of about £50, 000 today!........The following year the magazine closed down - (surprise). He and his cronies probably inspired the expression “A legend in his own lunchtime”!

This year’s Beaujolais Nouveau arrives Thursday 19th November and is reported to be exceptional, the best since 1949 according to some. Whatever your opinion is of this young wine it is an excuse to celebrate and a real vinous Harvest Festival.
Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!


Bubbles for nothing and fizz for free

Readers of the Surrey Advertiser have the chance to win a case of La Marca Prosecco - just pick up a copy of this week's edition.
You might not think winemakers are the type to stage a military style coup. But Italy's makers of Prosecco, the light frothy fizz, have done just that.

Prosecco is the name of the grape from which the sparkling wine is made yet, from next April, no-one outside the wine's homeland in north eastern Italy will be able to use the name Prosecco, even if their wine is made from that grape. From now on the rest of Italy, or indeed anywhere in the world, can only use the rather unattractive and unknown grape name Glera instead.
At a stroke, Italy's winemakers have ripped the carpet out from under anyone who fancied grabbing a piece of the growing Prosecco market.

The bottom may have fallen out of the Champagne market in the UK in the past year, with consumption dropping like a stone. But it's an ill wind that blows no-one any good and Champagne's loss has been Prosecco's gain.

You can see their point, to a degree. You might remember Paris Hilton advertising “Prosecco in a can” earlier this year. This sort of thing, as well as the noxious pink Prosecco will effectively be outlawed, which is undoubtedly a Good Thing. But the sheer chutzpah of the Prosecco growers takes the breath away.

Prosecco, Italy's favourite sparkling wine, is in no way simply a cheaper version of Champagne. It has a long and illustrious history in its native area of Conegliano-Valdobbiadene (that's never going to roll off the tongue is it?) in north eastern Italy, midway between Venice and the Dolomites, with its own distinct identity.

Champagne undergoes a second fermentation in the bottle to produce the fizz, followed by a period of maturation during which it develops its characteristic aromas and flavours.

Prosecco, meanwhile, acquires its bubbles through a second fermentation in a tank, with no long maturation. Indeed many growers carry out the second fermentation on demand during the year to ensure their wines retain their fresh, fruity and floral characters. Where Champagne is dry, often savoury, Prosecco is off-dry and intensely fruity – great for aperitifs.

Favourite Proseccos

Ombra Prosecco Frizzante NV - £9.99, £7.99 as part of a mixed case, Oddbins
Frizzante is a lightly sparkling version of the more usual spumante style. Pear skin fruit and a relatively dry style.

Bellenda Prosecco Spumante Brut San Fermo NV - £10.34, Les Caves de Pyrène (www.lescaves.co.uk)
Unusually dry, making for a more food-friendly and grown up style.

Perlage Prosecco Spumante Extra Dry Col di Manza - £10.99 Vinceremos (www.vinceremos.co.uk)
Biodynamic and organic, a touch sweeter than many, but with more complexity too – flint, nuts and fruit skins.