Wine made fast is wine for fast drinking. Beaujolais Nouveau is a fresh and fruity wine released shortly after its transformation from grape juice to wine. It is produced in a manner that preserves the youthful, "grapey" qualities of the unfermented juice.

Beaujolais Nouveau began as an informal local tradition in the bars and bistros of Beaujolais. Originally, pitchers of Nouveau drawn from growers' barrels were passed among thirsty patrons, as they celebrated the years harvest.

Nouveau Beaujolais was not officially recognized until 1951. The local governing body decreed the 15th day of November to be the legal day of release. By this time the local tradition had spread to the bistros of Paris and subsequently to the rest of the world.

Soon, adventurous souls and inventive marketers were racing to be the first to serve the year's first wine. Bottles came by truck, motor bike, balloon, and jet plane to their final destinations. The party became serious enough to again change the date in 1985 to the third Thursday of November-tying it to a weekend.

In addition to the obvious appeal of the event (free flowing wine and song make for a good evening), Nouveau Beaujolais is a marketing man's dream, as more than 70 million bottles are sold annually around the world. US winemakers, not shy in matters of late night parties or capitalism, have jumped the Nouveau bandwagon.

Often, the best US examples are made with the traditional Beaujolais variety, Gamay.

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