Beaujolais Nouveau is a different kind of wine. It's a wine not highly regarded, but people around the world choose to enjoy it anyhow. We'll show you what we mean with our data from over 6 million users.



As we explained in detail last week, Beaujolais Nouveau Day is this November 20th. It's an annual global celebration of the wine Beaujolais Nouveau, an unusually young wine, released the same year in which its grapes were harvested. The result is a fresh and fruity wine, atypical in taste and character.

We looked up the most common descriptors in over 1,000 reviews Vivino users have left for Beaujolais Nouveau. We created a tag cloud with the descriptors for the wine style:

Fresh cherry banana? Sounds more like a smoothy than a wine, right? In consequence of its odd character, Beaujolais Nouveau wines tend to suffer in ratings, both on Vivino and among the critics. Even wines that are well made for the style still may not rate well.

To see what we mean, here you can see how Vivino users rated the past three vintages of Beaujolais Nouveau:

Even Vivino's favorite vintage of Beaujolais Nouveau, 2012, only rates with an average of 3.23 out of 5, almost a half star lower than the overall average wine rating of 3.71.

Does this mean you should avoid drinking Beaujolais Nouveau? Not at all! Winemakers aren't trying to make a high quality wine, and you shouldn't expect one either. Rather, winemakers are crafting a unique wine in Beaujolais Nouveau, one that should be enjoyed for what it is: A light, fruity, easily drinkable wine.

Last year Vivino users joined in the fun, and we saw an incredible spike in scans on Beaujolais Nouveau Day:

Consumption remained high throughout the weekend throughout the world, as people gathered together to enjoy Beaujolais Nouveau socially. People also consumed quite a bit on Thanksgiving, in part because it's marketed as a Thanksgiving drink, and in part because it pairs well with Thanksgiving food.

How will 2014's vintage rate? Join in and rate a bottle yourself this year as we approach Beaujolais Nouveau Day and the holiday season. And be sure to check out our list of common, well respected Beaujolais Nouveau wines to keep your eye out for this year.