In just a few days, many of you will rush to your local purveyors of fine wine and purchase the first commercially available bottle of wine from the 2026 vintage. Beaujolais Nouveau , made from the gamay grape, is always released on the fourth Thursday of November which this year falls on the 19th. In many years, that fourth Thursday is also celebrated in the United State as Thanksgiving. Regardless of when they fall on the calendar, these two events could not produce a more symbiotic relationship for folks who enjoy good wine and superb cuisine.
You can expect Beaujolais Nouveau to be a lively, frothy, fruit- forward mouthful of wine. At its best, the wine is a pleasant quaff that is never meant to be taken too seriously but rather should be enjoyed in celebration of the new vintage. It is also priced reasonably – usually under $20 a bottle. Nouveau would also be a good wine to use as an aperitif before your Thanksgiving dinner which is exactly what I plan to do. I’ll also uncork a bottle of Champagne to get everyone in a celebratory mood. You can certainly use both wines as accompaniments to your turkey day meal, but there is more to Beaujolais than Nouveau and they are more serious food friendly wines.
The Beaujolais region lies just south of Burgundy and descends along a 34-mile stretch of rolling hills ending where the Rhone wine appellation begins. Gamay is a lighter pigmented red grape that regularly produces a medium bodied wine similar in texture to pinot noir. Wines in the appellation are labeled Beaujolais, Beaujolais Superior or Beaujolais Villages. These wines are all more substantial in texture and flavor than Beaujolais Nouveau and generally priced between $20 and $30. The very best wines of the region, though, are called Cru Beaujolais and some of them can improve in the bottle for many years. You can expect to pay $30 to $60 a bottle for the Cru wines.
Cru (which means “growths” in French) wines are named after the villages around which the grapes are grown. The ten Cru Beaujolais wines are: Brouilly, Chenas, Chiroubles, Cote de Brouilly, Fleurie, Julienas, Morgon, Moulin-a-Vent, Regnie and Saint Amour. Each of these Crus produces distinctly different Beaujolais from very light and delicate (i.e., Chiroubles and Fleurie) to fuller-bodied wines (i.e., Moulin a Vent and Morgon). Like Burgundy, it is very important to select your Beaujolais from reputable producers and shippers. Among the most reputable of these are: Manoir Du Carra, Joseph Drouhin, Georges Duboeuf, Louis Jadot and Louis Latour. In matching these wines to food, I suggest you use the Crus Beaujolais like you would a medium-bodied pinot noir. These Crus show the best qualities of the gamay grape.
I’ve written about this many times before, but it bears repeating, Thanksgiving is truly a wine lover’s holiday! It’s a meal that provides a food pairing for just about every vinous taste because of the varied cooking preparations for the turkey (i.e. oven baked, grilled, smoked or deep fried). Add to this the types of dressings and multitude of side dishes and desserts, and there will be some component of the Thanksgiving meal that will please your palate. Whether you prefer a light, slightly sweet German riesling or Alsatian pinot gris, a fruit forward gruner veltliner or medium bodied reds such as pinot noir, Beaujolais or Chianti Classico, the turkey day meal will present you with a delicious wine pairing.
So celebrate the first wine of the 2026 vintage by sipping a glass or two of Beaujolais Nouveau or Champagne. Try either with cheese or as an aperitif and then open a bottle of Beaujolais Villages, Cru Beaujolais or your other favorite wines to accompany the Thanksgiving feast.
A Votre Sante and Happy Thanksgiving!
John Brown is also a novelist. His latest book – Augie’s Wine –is now available to order online or at his website wordsbyjohnbrown.com. His first two books– Augie’s War and Augie’s World – are also available online and at bookstores around the state. The novels are also available as audiobooks. You can find out more about his novels, and review all his archived Vines & Vittles columns at wordsbyjohnbrown.com
Leave a Reply