November is deservedly known for major holidays, but there is an event that takes place during it, one that we have been a part of every year since 2011, and one that we will be a part of again this year- Beaujolais Nouveau Day. This is an event, which, depending on your slant, is a wonderful fall tradition, a played out marketing event, a post-hype recovery story or some combination, there are few neutral parties. If you aren't familiar, Nouveau is a wine made from grapes that are picked but not crushed, but instead put inside a vessel whole, and fermented as such. It produces a light red wine that is brought out a handful of weeks later, on the 3rd Thursday of November, to celebrate the recently past harvest. Originating in France and made from the Gamay grape, this happening gained worldwide attention, with the release happening at 12:01 am in multiple time zones with great fanfare, but over the years, detractors have cast shade (gimmicky, played out, mundane) and the needle moved downward. What to do?

 Satek Winery has always tried to embrace creativity where it strikes, and is not adverse to a challenge. The first vintage of Kreibaum Bay Nouveau (the above label) was, in some part, to see if we could achieve this high degree of difficulty in wine production, and produced only a handful of cases, but there was something  (the taste, the demands, the gratification?) that kept us at it. Lessons were learned, and the volumes have grown, but our use of the Marechal Foch grape (no Gamay for us, too cold), an established early-ripening French hybrid, makes a cranberryesque delight that finds a home, year after year, at Thanksgiving and Christmas tables and celebrations. 

 Five consecutive years of this labor-intensive love is a celebration on its own, and the 19th is coming closer, day by day.