This week on November 20th we will be greeted with 9 offerings from France, Italy and Ontario in their local LCBO. Nouveau has a certain contradiction about it … the hardest wine snobs will turn their nose up at it… but the budding wineaux has no idea that it even exists.
Nouveau is the first wine of the 2014 harvest that was recently completed. These wines were grapes only six weeks ago. They are light and fruity, often they have interesting tropical or candied flavours. Here is the catch… these wines deteriorate rather than improve with age. These wines are unsophisticated but I look forward to them every year. The reason I look forward to them is because everything that surrounds the Nouveau release is unpretentious. I use my annual Nouveau party as an excuse for all my house guests to feel like wine experts for a night. All of these wines are under fifteen dollars so there is really no excuse not to taste more than one of them.
If you decide to host your own Nouveau party you can quite literally serve anything with regards to food. The nice acidity and lightness in all of these wines make them a great match for anything from lightly seasoned roast Chicken to Burgers. My ideal match for these wines would be start with charcuterie and move on to thin crust pizza with a mix of meat and veggies.
Keep your eyes peeled to www.andrewinereview.ca as I will be reporting on all things Nouveau this year from Paris while I discover the proper way to celebrate a Nouveau release.
I will review these wines going from left to right in the photo and denote my personal favorites with a star(*)
France
Art’s Beaujolais Primeux Nouveau 2014 – LCBO 366476 – $13.95 – Fresh Cherry with a slight savory edge. Nice acidity with slight pepper on the finish.
*Duboeuf Gamay Nouveau 2014 – LCBO 891846 – $9.95 – One of the cheaper offerings of the batch this year. A mix of Red and Sour Cherry with hints of red licorice pushing through… nothing wrong with a bit of candy in the bottle.
Mommessin Beaujolais Nouveau 2014 – LCBO 897934 – $13.95 – Lots of fresh cherry and red licorice with nice acidity and slight black pepper on the finish.
*Dubeouf Beaujolais Villages Nouveau 2014 – LCBO 932780 – $14.95 – loads of very ripe juicy black cherry that moves to candied cherry on the finish.
Drouhin Beaujolais Villages Nouveau 2014 – LCBO 113266 – $15.95 – It would appear that this was the year of black cherry for nouveau coming from the Beaujolais Villages. Just like the Duboeuf this is loaded with Black Cherry.
Catalans Primeur Syrah Merlot 2014 – LCBO 220533 – $9.95 – Ripe Cherry, Raspberry and Banana (that’s right … banana!). All the very ripe fruit dances on the palate like a fruit salad.
Italy
Tollo Novello Rosso Terre Di Chieti – LCBO 271759 – $9.45 – Banana on the nose and full of bright ripe raspberry. The tannin in this Novello is more aparant than any of it’s french counterparts this will hold up better to heavier beef dishes.
*Negrar Novello Del Veneto – LCBO 899955 – $9.95 – This is very interesting. The first sip you will notice earthiness, coffee and dark chocolate which opens up to black cherry. This is very tasty!
Ontario
Reif The Fool Gamay Nouveau VQA 2014 – LCBO 220483 – $11.95 – This is the only Ontario Gamay Nouveau to hit the LCBO shelves this year. This has a little more sugar than its european counterparts but don’t write it off. Candied Black Cherry is dominant in this wine with nice acidity.
Reif The Hanging Man Kerner Nouveau VQA 2014 – Winery Only – $11.95 – I really enjoy the Kerner Nouveau. This wine is basically an apple turnover in a glass with flavours of Apples, Spice and Puff Pastry. White Nouveau is not typical and should you have the means I would include it for your own Nouveau party.
