People toast with the 2016 Beaujolais Nouveau wine as they dip in a hot bath with colored water representing wine at the Hakone Kowaki-en Yunessun spa resort during an event marking Beaujolais Nouveau Day in Hakone, on Thursday. See related story here.
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Beaujolais Nouveau Day
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sensei258
I don't understand why there is so much hype about this
Yubaru
People play follow the leader, if someone, many times even slightly famous, plays up a product, the news spreads like wildfire, and EVERYONE has to have it or try it.
Just like Christmas cakes, Christmas Chicken, those huge "stockings" stuffed with junk food, valentines day, white day, summer gift season, end of year gift season, nengajo, brand name goods, whatever.
The companies advertise the hell out of it, make it seem like it's "special" make a huge presentation, and everyone jumps on board.
Personally speaking this bathtub full of this wine is probably one of the most appropriate uses for the stuff as it certainly is NOT wine good enough to drink.
goldorak
Agree yubaru and I think it's also what sensei meant i.e 'why such hype about what's essentially an average table wine'?
Yubaru
Keeping up with the Jones's on a national scale.
Aly Rustom
If that pool was wine
And if I was a duck
I'd dive to the bottom
And drink my way up.
FightingViking
In France, practically nobody drinks Beaujolais nouveau however, they are not about to let such an excellent chance (to make a fortune) just "slip away" ! If Japan wants it, Japan gets it !
Bububu3
That's not really true. I lived in France for years and lots of people do drink it... however, it was like pennies a glass. The prices for bottles here in Japan is crazy!
katsudon
"People play follow the leader, if someone, many times even slightly famous, plays up a product, the news spreads like wildfire, and EVERYONE has to have it or try it."
So in a strange sense, they are bathing in wine but drinking the Kool Aid. ;-)
smithinjapan
The flavoured vinegar is back!
goldorak
Agree with bububu. I think many ppl would typically buy one bottle and moan 'hmmm, nothing special' pretty much very year. 'le beaujolais nouveau est arrive!' is sort of a meme (in french society) similar to having a flutter on melbourne cup day in oz, you just do it on this particular day without really thinking about it. No need to be into wine, horses etc.
Imo nothing wrong with buying a bottle of beaujolais each year (different story if you buy a case of 12 and feel its the biggest day of the year I guess)
kurisupisu
It's good in a tomato based pasta sauce but not much else.....
afanofjapan
Even my coworkers all get into it, paying extra for wine delivered to our office just because it has an element of exclusivity (because it cannot be sold before a certain day each year). Every time i hear them go on about how they have been waiting for it, i cant help but think "you never drink wine, you probably dont even like real wine if you think this tastes good"
well whatever keeps the economy moving...
notasap
I just don't get it...what is with the love of this particular wine? I've had Beaujolais Nouveau many times...its ok, can be good but overall its an ok wine. Much better stuff out there and cheaper. Try a malbec or a good Grenache. I just don't get it.
Strangerland
Gotta love this time of year, the only yearly story that draws more derision from foreigners over something they don't have to participate in whatsoever if they don't want to than the new years TV show, is the Beaujolais Novuveau story.
I'm not a fan of the wine myself, but I have this amazing innovative solution to not having to drink it. I simply, wait for it.... don't drink it.
WA4TKG
Shut UP and "Enjoy" the Orgy.
Jimizo
How dare people enjoy something which offends the tastes of those in the know?
I think I'll have a can of happoshu and a Tory's highball to calm myself down.
dcog9065
It's bizarre that people in Germany, the US and Japan love this wine so much
Sabrage
There's bubbles behind woman on far left - disappointing behavior.
inkochi
Went to a winetasting in kochi years ago (a kosher one actually) where they decided to have Beaujolais. The normal stuff was awful as per normal, but a variety labeled Beaujolais Premium from across different wineries was OK - like a lambrusco without a truckload of sugar.
However, ...
As well, there is so much Beajolais lying around stores still from years gone by, why not use all that stuff up in baths?
I know why - there are still a lot of suckers around who are still going to pay 2-3000 yen for crappy wine, so why waste it having it eventually go down a drain!
Mike L
In a country with 100s of great sake and shochu brands!
Strangerland - the white knight to Japan's rescue again I see.
Wakarimasen
I don't like the wine but admire the marketing ploy.
Nessie
Not true. It's a picnic drink, like coke. And the surplus is given to livestock.
WA4TKG
LOVE that one Nessie, ROFL...
Manuel D. Valencia III
It's not a bad wine, but not worth the hype. Like Nessie said, It's a picnic drink. I've had much cheaper Chilean wines that are much better.
turbotsat
The baby looks mad ... where's HER wine?
Jimizo
I find the beer snobs in Japan love to sneer at people who drink Asahi or Kirin as well. I've had whisky snobs have a sneer at me for my love of the vulgarly popular Old Parr.
Extremely irritating people.
Strangerland
Well, the fact that it's Japan this time is just incidental. See my comments below.
Yep. Not much more annoying than those who criticize other people for liking what they like. Anyone with self-confidence is fine with someone else liking what they like, because they themselves are satisfied with what they themselves like. No need to dump on another's choices.
wtfjapan
I'm not a fan of the wine myself, but I have this amazing innovative solution to not having to drink it. I simply, wait for it.... don't drink it. its not so much that Japanese want to drink it, its the whole gullibility of the fiasco, Beaujolais Nouveau is just a cheap grade plonk, that is marketed at a higher grade wine price. Its a bit like convincing Eskimos that ice from Antartica is far better quality and should be bought at a premium price. One persons marketing genius is another person fools gold.
Nessie
It's basically the Bud Lite of French wine. Light, fruity, no tanins.
sourpuss
Love the snobbery on this thred. Everyone here just KNOWS that Beaujolais Nouveau is SUCH crap (while rolling their eyes).
Maybe you guys need to get over yourselves and live a little. At least the people in the picture are enjoying themselves and not wasting their time whinging on the internet... lighten up!
wtfjapan
Not true. It's a picnic drink, like coke. And the surplus is given to livestock. livestock LMFAO, that makes it all the better, next time a Japanese is drinking this crap you can tell them that cows drink it in France. LOL
Strangerland
For one, who cares if they are gullible - if they want to believe it, and it makes them happy, then so what?
Second, it's not marketed as a higher grade wine at all. The prices are at the low/affordable end of the price scale.
Third, whose to say they don't like it regardless of what other people say about it? Maybe it does well here not because they are gullible, but because it appeals to the Japanese flavor palate?
The cultural superiority expressed whenever this wine comes out is quite disgusting.
wtfjapan
whose to say they don't like it regardless of what other people say about it? Maybe it does well here not because they are gullible, but because it appeals to the Japanese flavor palate it appeals to French livestock as well. LOL
Strangerland
So you are saying Japanese people are like livestock.
Seems legit.
Spanki
Having tried many Japanese wines, I can see why they think this tastes nice.
wtfjapan
So you are saying Japanese people are like livestock. No just saying Beaujolais Nouveau goes well with hay and oats, French livestock would agree.!?
BertieWooster
Beaujolais Nouveau.
Superb marketing.
Mediocre wine.
Nippori Nick
Without hype it would never sell. I fell for it once and only once when I was a young man. The newspapers were all hyping it so I went and bought some and realized my folly. Never again.