Beaujolais Nouveau 2008

Just received this flyer from the PLCB announcing their upcoming Beaujolais Nouveau tasting on November 20. Three locations: The Hilton Harrisburg, The Renaissance Hotel in Pittsburgh, and the Sofitel in Philly. See flyer for details.

How do you mamage to get all these updates from the PLCB? I never get anything anymore, except the updates from PAWINETALK.

OK, so here's the deal. There are two regular e-mails that go out statewide from Harrisburg, one is "Premium Collection Store Picks" and the other is "See what's new at pawineandspirits.com." If you've created an account on pawineandspirits.com you should probably already be getting the latter.

Regardless, you can send an e-mail to ra-lbwineandspirits@state.pa.us and ask to be added to either or both lists.

Some of these messages also have a link at the bottom to "Send to a friend." I haven't tried it but have been told that if you do that it will a) send it to whoever you want, and b) ASK that person if they wish to receive such e-mails regularly. I can forward it to you if you want, just reply here with your e-mail address in a non-web-crawler-readable form i.e. "username at domain dot com."

You can also sign up for e-mails from your local premium collection store. These vary in both content and frequency from store to store, but are often informative. You generally have to sign up in person, just ask. Typically at Premium Collection stores only.

Finally, regarding the Beaujolais Nouveau tasting that was a direct e-mail from someone I know at the PLCB. Chances are it will be going out more widely in the near future, but don't quote me on that!

Mark

Just a reminder that this tasting is this afternoon. I will be at the Renaissance Hotel in Pittsburgh with my dear old dad, hope to see some friends!

Mark

What a nice event! It was in a second floor conference room of the Renaissance Hotel, right across the river from tens of thousands of tailgating Steelers fans who presumably were drinking something besides Beaujolais.

There was a bartender pouring the wine at no cost and he also had a couple other non-wine drinks available for a price. There were both warm and cold appetizers available including shrimp cocktail, mini-crabcakes, bruschetta, various cheeses, etc, all gratis.

The wine itself was, well, aah, it was Beaujolais Nouveau after all so my expectations weren't high. It was better than I recall the 2007, and certainly drinkable which is more than I can say for many red wines I've been served at weddings. Still that's all faint praise. But $13.99, come on who are they kidding? I got an e-mail from a Manhattan wine store last week offering it for $9.95 with free delivery the same day (within Manhattan) on a case if ordered by Noon. Some stores in other states have it for even less with a case discount.

Mark

I had a minor BJNV experience - had lunch at a bistro with work Frenchies, we all had either coq au vin or beef bourgignon, simple and tasty. Couldn't believe I had to be the one to convince the French to get a bottle of BJNV at lunch!

It was drinkable but we left a third of the bottle..

$13.99 is insane! Am I crazy or does basic DuBoeuf normally cost $7-$8? Well I guess I won't be bothered, since I won't be buying, but for $14 you might get a lesser Cru!