Maison Vauron | Wine Beaujolais Nouveau: Learn about France's Annual Harvest Celebration Did you know that New Zealand is the very first country to raise a glass of Beaujolais Nouveau each November? Beaujolais Nouveau is a fresh, young Gamay wine released each November in France. It celebrates the harvest with an early, fruity vintage enjoyed around the world on its launch day. One minute past midnight on the third Thursday of November, the world's best-known wine celebration begins. From the villages of Beaujolais, just north of Lyon, the new vintage sets off for Paris and on to every corner of the globe. Because of where we sit on the clock, New Zealand is among the very first countries to raise a glass. In 2026, that moment falls on Thursday 19 November. What is Beaujolais Nouveau? Among the rolling hills and small villages between Burgundy's Mâconnais and the city of Lyon lies Beaujolais. The region is synonymous with Gamay, a thin-skinned red grape that covers almost all of its vineyards. Beaujolais Nouveau is the region's first wine of the year. The grapes are picked by hand in late summer, and the wine is bottled only a few weeks later, an unusually short time in winemaking terms. It was never meant for ageing. It began as a way to celebrate the end of the harvest, a first taste of the year's vintage shared by pickers and villagers. Beaujolais Nouveau Wine: How It's Made and How to Enjoy It Most Beaujolais Nouveau is made using carbonic or semi-carbonic maceration. Whole bunches of Gamay go into sealed vats, and fermentation starts inside the uncrushed berries. This brings out bright fruit and colour while keeping tannins soft. The result is a light, fresh and fruity red. Expect flavours of red cherry, raspberry and strawberry, sometimes with notes of banana or pear drop from the winemaking method. How to Enjoy It Drink it young. It is at its best in the months after release. Serve it lightly chilled. Around 13°C, or 20–30 minutes in the fridge. Pair it simply. Charcuterie, soft cheeses, roast chicken, salads and the Christmas table. In New Zealand, the release arrives at the start of summer, which suits a chilled red perfectly. What is Beaujolais Nouveau Day? Beaujolais Nouveau Day is an annual ritual. Every year, on the third Thursday of November, the new vintage is released at 12:01am local time, and wine lovers gather to taste the first wine of the harvest. The date has been fixed since 1985. Before that, from 1951, the wine was released on 15 November. The tradition is simple and joyful. Bars, bistros and wine shops announce the new arrival, friends share a bottle, and the young wine marks the end of the harvest and the start of the festive season. Because the release follows the clock, the celebration travels around the world through the day. New Zealand is one of the first places to greet each new day, so New Zealanders are among the first to taste the new vintage. Celebrate with Maison Vauron This year, Maison Vauron celebrates Beaujolais Nouveau Day with a set lunch on Thursday 19 and Friday 20 November 2026. What is the Beaujolais Nouveau Festival? In Beaujolais itself, the biggest celebration is Les Sarmentelles in Beaujeu, the historic town that gave the region its name. The festival runs for five days around the release. Highlights include a torchlit parade, a countdown to midnight, the tapping of the first barrel of the new wine, fireworks and a ball. Bistros in Lyon and Paris celebrate too, and restaurants and wine bars around the world hold their own release parties. The Beaujolais Nouveau Race For years, the young wine was drunk locally. Cafés and bistros in Lyon and nearby towns bought it by the barrel. Under rules set in 1937, Beaujolais could not be sold until 15 December. In 1951 the rules were relaxed so the new wine could go on sale from 15 November. This is widely seen as the official birth of Beaujolais Nouveau. Then Parisians discovered it, and the race was on. In the 1950s, a marketing campaign challenged producers to get the first case of the new vintage to Paris. By the 1970s the dash to the capital had become a national event. Producers such as Georges Duboeuf promoted it with the famous slogan "Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé !" ("The new Beaujolais has arrived!"). Through the rest of the 20th century the race went global, and today the wine is shipped to countries including Germany, the United States and Japan. Beaujolais Nouveau in NZ Here in New Zealand, Maison Vauron are proud to host an annual Beaujolais Nouveau lunch on the third Thursday of November. Because of the International Date Line, NZ is the first country in the world to open up the new wine. For the rest of the year, you can shop our selection of Beaujolais online or if you're in Auckland, pop in to our wine cellar.