Without a little marketing, they're just fermented grapes (un point sur le beaujolais nouveau par nos amis américains).

The slogan "It's beaujolais nouveau time" replaced the time-honored cry of "Le beaujolais nouveau est arrivé!" ("Beaujolais nouveau has arrived!") when revelers rang in the French wine at midnight Thursday with a bacchanalian feast stretching from Sydney, Australia, to San Francisco.

The new slogan is part of a $1.17 million campaign by winegrowers to attract a hip, young clientele for their product amid slumping wine sales in France.

"Instead of drinking Coke, we are telling young people it's better to drink a glass of beaujolais," said Michel Rougier, head of the group promoting the region's wines.

The campaign includes radio spots in France - in French - and an online campaign, with Internet movie clips and a slick new Web site in French and English aimed at the under-35 crowd.

Producers hope the annual beaujolais coming-out party, traditionally on the third Thursday of November, also will help propel sales in emerging markets such as China. But the revamp met some resistance, at least in Paris, where many cafes and wine bars persisted in using posters bearing the old slogan.

Though experts have declared this year's vintage one of the best in decades, wine buffs traditionally sniff that beaujolais nouveau is too light and fruity to register as a "grand vin." Still, fans love it simply as a party wine that provides a good excuse for midnight merrymaking - or even breakfast tasting.

Wine lovers in the Chatham Islands in New Zealand, close to the international date line, were expected to ring in the new harvest. In the southern city of Lyon, near the heartland of Beaujolais, public concerts and fireworks were to precede the tapping of the barrels at midnight.

This year's vintage has notes of wild blackberry, cranberry and black currant, with hints of cherry and raspberry and spicier flavors not unlike licorice, producers say. It is already being compared to the 1976 vintage, which followed a particularly hot summer.

Comments

[Rédigé par : Botrytis]

Je me demande quand même si le fait de coller un slogan qui ne sonne pas français était une bonne stratégie. Ne va-il pas déposéder les français de leur produit (si fade soit il) et décédibiliser la provenance frenchy du Beaujolais auprès des étrangers ?
En tout cas j'ai vraiment l'impression que les amateurs de vins ne peuvent plus boire le Beaujolais nouveau et ne tarrissent pas de critiques face à son image grande conso. Pourtant, et c'est là le paradoxe, ils courrent tous l'acheter. Est-ce un phénomène uniquement parisien ou est-ce comme ça dans les autres régions, notamment vitivoles ?
Je serais curieuse de connaître les résultats des ventes ?

[Rédigé par : arrangeurs]

je suisn surprise qu'il n'y ait pas plus de comentaires à votre billet :)