We are doing a slightly shorter trip to Australia in 2026 so that we can shoehorn in one final trip before the end of the year, our 2026-4 – Beaujolais Nouveau and Christmas Markets tour.
We are old enough to remember “Beaujolais Nouveau Day” when it was still a big thing:
Google AI Overview:
Beaujolais Nouveau Day became a major international phenomenon during the
1970s and 1980s, peaking in popularity due to aggressive marketing, particularly in the UK, North America, and Asia. The tradition, centered on releasing the young red wine on the third Thursday of November, saw a famous "race" to get the first bottles to London and Paris, with worldwide popularity following in the 1990s.
Key aspects of its rise as a "big thing":
• The 1970s Boom: Propelled by wine merchant Georges Duboeuf, the slogan "Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!" became famous, turning a local harvest tradition into a global event.
• 1985 Official Date: The French government formalized the release to the third Thursday of November to create a weekend-long, worldwide party.
• 1980s-90s Global Peak: The trend spread from London to the US and Asia, with Tokyo becoming a massive market for the wine.
• Marketing Impact: It was originally a local, young table wine, but became a "madcap derby" of fast, competitive shipping to retailers.
The Beaujolais nouveau craze has long since faded, and no Canadian retailers still import the wine (as far as we know). So, “If the mountain won’t come to Mohammed, then Mohammed must go to the mountain.“; we are headed to France for Beajolais Nouveau Day!
We’re not about to fly all the way to Europe just for a weekend long wine party, so after visiting the Beaujolais wine district we will cross over to Basel, Switzerland to start a one-week Christmas markets river cruise with Scenic Cruises. (Featured image above is courtesy of their sister company, Emerald Cruises.) We’ll travel the Rhine all the way to Amsterdam, seeing some of the famous Christmas markets of Germany along the way, and the “Capital of Christmas” in Strasbourg, France.
Watch for photos from this trip later in the year.
See our posts for this trip: