I poured wine last night at the annual Beaujolais Nouveau fund-raiser put on by our local Alliance Francais. I know that for many of us here, the Nouveau are wines best for "laying down and avoiding", but I was pleasantly surprised by this year's bottlings (particularly after the God-awful ones we had last year).
The four wines served were by Drouhin, Duboeuf, Bouchard, and Fessy. All of the wines were pleasant to drink, without any raging fruitiness, banana, etc. The consensus WOTN was the Bouchard. This wine was surprisingly balanced and actually a bit complex, with good acidity and a finish that showed some length. The leftover bottles of the Bouchard were very quickly snagged.
Of the remaining three, the Drouhin and Duboeuf had the most overt fruit, with the Duboeuf leading. I felt the Drouhin had a bubble-gum character to it that put me off, but I think it was the overall second favorite of the evening. But although these were the kind of simple quaffers one expects, they were not obnoxious. The Fessy finished in last place. It was a bit dull for a Nouveau, without either the slight classiness of the Bouchard or the easy fruity fun of the other two.
As an aside, I had a blast pouring. It was fun to be able to answer people's questions ("So do they grow Boojoelay in California?" and such). There was tasty food and a pretty decent local musician. Only downside was when people spoke to me in French and expected an answer in kind. Great fun!
Mike
