The traditional holiday Beaujolais nouveau has been held since 1985 on the night of the third Thursday of November. The Japanese are the first who open the bottles with the sour nectar – they are the main foreign consumers of Beaujolais nouveau.
The native land of the wine, the Beaujolais region of France, gathers some 30,000 fans of this spirit. In Lyon, the holiday is traditionally marked in the evening with concerts and fireworks and finishes with wine tasting.
Later, a local agricultural association plans to pour out some 400 liters of the wine in drug stores where the merry guests will be able to undergo a free test on the level of blood-alcohol in their systems.
This year, the winemakers have produced some 40 million bottles of Beaujolais nouveau, 60% of which will be drunk by the French.
