Beaujolais Wine committee Celebrates Lifting of Nouveau Ban, Showcases Wines in Tokyo

France’s Inter Beaujolais Beaujolais Wine Committee held an event on November 20th at Loiseau de France Tokyo (on the grounds of the former Tokyo-Japan Institute) to celebrate the lifting of the ban on Beaujolais Nouveau in 2025 and to showcase non-Nouveau Beaujolais wines. The event was planned and managed by Audas Co., Ltd.

Japan is the third largest importer of Beaujolais wine in the world after the United States and the United Kingdom. Among them,”Beaujolais Nouveau” grew in popularity thanks to the “unbanning events” that were popular in the late 1980s and 1990s,but last year Sapporo Beer and Asahi Beer,and this year Kirin Holdings’ Mercian,decided not to import or sell it. Meanwhile, overall wine consumption has increased 1.1 times over the past 10 years. Coupled with factors such as an increase in the quality of domestic wine due to climate change and changes in the lifestyle of drinking wine on a daily basis, the domestic alcoholic beverage market has remained relatively strong.

For this event, Beaujolais Wine Committee Vice Chairman Sébastien Cargur and Managing Director olivier Badreaux visited Japan. “In Beaujolais, where the harvest is still largely hand-picked, more then 20,000 people will be mobilized for about a month during the harvest. As in 2024, in 2025, we suffered from severe heat, but the growth of the grapes accelerated and they matured early, so we started harvesting in August.As an inevitable result, it was a memorable “good year” for winemakers, and we can expect a depth comparable to 2015, wich was supported by many wine lovers.” He introduced the characteristics of this year. In addition, he talked about not only Beaujolais Nouveau, but also the history and culture of Beaujolais, as well as new trends.

Also, at the tasting event, sommelier Motohiro Okoshi, who served as a judge at the international competition IWC, explained the characteristics of this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau and six types of Beaujolais wines and also the reasons for pairing them with food and spices that are suitable for them.