In France, Beaujolais Nouveau Day is a reverent, almost ritualistic celebration of one of the country’s best known varieties of wine – where producers roll the first barrels down the street to local bistrots, accompanied by revellers with torches.
And then there’s Swansea.
Last night, partygoers spilled out onto the streets of Britain’s Beaujolais capital in their droves to mark the day of the wine’s release – laid down in French law as the third Thursday of November.
Young women braved temperatures as low as -2C in strappy dresses and high heels – and towards the end of the night many looked a little worse for wear.
Beaujolais Nouveau is released just weeks after its Gamay grapes are harvested. In the 1970s, a tradition developed to race the first cases back from Beaujeu to Britain that continues to this day as a charity event.
Its popularity peaked in the 1980s – a poster even appearing behind the bar in Del Boy’s infamous pratfall scene in Only Fools and Horses.
However, it developed a reputation as being cheap plonk that quickly loses its flavour, and once had an aftertaste unfavourably compared to banana.
But the wine’s flavour is developing thanks to changes in the soil, attributed to climate change, bringing about a revival of this ‘vin de primeur’ – a wine sold the same year it is bottled.
A reveller with a bottle of wine on the streets of Swansea marking Beaujolais Nouveau Day
A pair of partygoers out on the town early in Swansea on Thursday. French law requires Beaujolais Nouveau to be sold from the third Thursday of November
The scenes in France were altogether more reverent than those in Swansea – with wine lovers gently tasting the new vintage
A man smells a glass of Beaujolais at a grocery store in Montreuil, Paris on Thursday
The Welsh city has become inextricably linked with the wine over the years (pictured: revellers braving the cold last night)
Beaujolais is not for everyone: just ask these two very jubilant men clutching pints
In Beaujeu, the capital of the region that gives the wine its name, revellers held candles to mark the start of Les Sarmentelles, a festival celebrating its release
In Lyon, just to the south-east of Beaujeu, producers rolled barrels of Beaujolais Nouveau down the streets to be delivered to thirsty fans
That particular stance wasn’t taken on the streets of South Wales, however.
Swansea is inextricably linked with Beaujolais Nouveau Day thanks to former Wales rugby international Clem Thomas, who once ran the city’s No Sign Wine Bar.
Thomas had a house in France and would bring Beaujolais Nouveau back to his watering hole for locals to sample for themselves.
His son, Chris, told the BBC last year that it was a ‘pivotal day’ for the city’s pubs. At the No Sign, takings would go from £5,000 in a week to up to £15,000 on Beaujolais Nouveau Day alone.
Venues across the city effectively treat it as an early Christmas, with demand for tables to match the peak of the festive period and marquees put up to accommodate the swell of drinkers who come out to play on the third Thursday of the month.
Events marking Beaujolais Nouveau were altogether more reverent in France.
On the streets of Beaujeu, the capital of the region that gives the wine its name, revellers held candles at Les Sarmentelles, the five day festival marking the wine’s release.
Les Sarmentelles – meaning ‘the vines’ – features live music and wine tasting, as well as inductions into le Ordre des Compagnons du Beaujolais, an organisation dedicated to promoting wines from across the region.
Some Swansea revellers braved temperatures as low as -2C in nothing more than a strappy dress. Others wrapped up more practically for the cold
Wind Street in Swansea (pictured) is the Welsh city’s nightlife hotspot – with every bar along the street packed out last night
Pour vous, monsieur? A barman pours a glass of Beaujolais Nouveau in a bistrot in Paris
Beaujolais Nouveau reached peak popularity in the 1980s but gained a reputation for being cheap party plonk. That is changing, producers say
A pair of partygoers take the weight off as they enjoy Beaujolais Nouveau Day
The cold proved too much for some revellers, who ended their nights wrapped in foil blankets
The night did not go to plan for everyone (pictured: a woman is led away in handcuffs by police)
You’ve had your chips! A woman tucks into a box of fried chicken towards the end of her night
In Lyon, a short distance to the south-east, producers rolled the first barrels of the wine down the street.
In Paris people sampled the new vintage at grocery stores and bistrots across the capital.
Production volumes of the wine have dropped this year, however, due to changeable weather. This year’s harvest was smaller than expected.
But growers say it has developed into a wine of quality, rather than quantity.
‘We were told beaujolais nouveau was over – but the more years go by and the more we make, the proof is we were practically out of stock on the eve of [the day]. We’ve never sold so much,’ winemaker Marine Rivière told France 24.
