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Every year on the third Thursday in November at midnight, Beaujolais Nouveau hits store shelves, caf\\xe9s, and restaurants around the world and (a declining number) of people rush out to get this invention of marketing genius.

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The celebration\\xa0of this hastily made wine, for which grapes are picked and then processed\\xa0in a scant few weeks before you drink it (as opposed to quality wine which is made over several months, if not years) is the creation of producer/negociant Georges Duboeuf. This guy took the Old World idea of festivals that celebrated new/young wine \\u2014 \\xa0wine\\xa0made from grapes fresh off the vines \\u2014 and put a marketing machine behind it to get the world to support Beaujolais Nouveau.

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The problem: young wine is best when it\\u2019s fresh and sipped at the winery. When it travels overseas and is stored for a month the wine is terrible. But even then, I bet if we tasted it fresh, Beaujolais Nouveau tastes like bananas, bubble gum, and pear candy, with little acid or tannin.\\xa0Apart from color, it\\xa0has more in common with a white than a red. It\\u2019s fun, but it doesn\\u2019t taste that great and as we\\u2019ve become more sophisticated in our wine drinking, Beaujolais Nouveau has become less exciting to most people.\\xa0

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Sadly this increasing sophistication has had terrible repercussions in the region of Beaujolais \\u2014 forcing some growers out of business and creating tensions among those who depended on this product for their livelihoods. So the question for Beaujolais is: Now that Beaujolais Nouveau is on the rocks, what else is there?

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Enter higher quality Beaujolais. This is the stuff wine people go nuts over but that few others know about: the 10 Beaujolais Crus that make distinctive, floral, fresh\\xa0wine from the Gamay grape. Just south of Burgundy and north of Rh\\xf4ne, on a swath of granite, which is Gamay\\u2019s preferred soil, are scattered areas that make outstanding\\xa0wine. From north to south these are: Saint-Amour, Juli\\xe9nas, Ch\\xe9nas, Moulin-\\xe0-Vent, Fleurie, Chiroubles, Morgon, R\\xe9gni\\xe9, C\\xf4te de Brouilly, and Brouilly.

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The wines produced in these Cru run the gamut \\u2014 from floral and fruity to rich, earthy, and complex. Here\\u2019s a quick grouping of each type:\\xa0

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• Lighter bodied, more floral, less age worthy: Chiroubles\\xa0
• Medium bodied, fruity with mineral notes:Brouilly, C\\xf4te de Brouilly, Fleurie, R\\xe9gni\\xe9, Saint-Amour
• Fuller bodied, spicy, earthy: Ch\\xe9nas, Juli\\xe9nas
• Even fuller and more age-worthy, spicy, and like a cross between Pinot Noir and more floral\\xa0Gamay: Morgon, Moulin-\\xe0-Vent

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Most of these wines are incredibly well priced for what they are \\u2014 around US $20 or less \\u2014 and they taste like nothing else you\\u2019ve ever tried. I don\\u2019t know of other wines that can boast flavors of iris flowers, violets, or lily of the valley and also have raspberry, earth, and spice notes. The combination of freshness and structure \\u2014 most Cru have excellent acidity but also a round, soft texture \\u2014 make these wines like nothing else you\\u2019ve ever had.\\xa0

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So clearly, I love the stuff. Go get yourself one from an area I just mentioned that sounds best to you and report back on the blog: winefornormalpeople.com/blog and we\\u2019ll compare notes.