New Chinese ambassador for Beaujolais wine

As wine drinkers around the world savor the latest vintage of Beaujolais Nouveau, one public face of the wine has much in common with the celebrated French red - youth - and one distinct dissimilarity: She's Chinese.

The 22-year-old Yan Zhuyin is candid about the advantage that she thinks won her the crown of Miss Beaujolais China in the fall. The Shenzhen native's youth is a perfect fit for the promotion of one of the world's youngest wines.

A light and fruity red wine made from handpicked Gamay grapes from the Beaujolais region, Beaujolais Nouveau has established its reputation as the "world's fastest wine". Fermented just six to eight weeks before it's sold, the wine is intended for immediate consumption, or more precisely, consumption within a year of harvest.

While the other Beaujolais wine is casked for a year before it's released and develops character with aging, the nouveau's quick production means there is very little tannin, so fruit flavors are right up front and the wine will not mature over time.

The taste of the new Beaujolais has thus been compared to a young ballerina's first attempt to stand on her toes. Its spirit has been championed by French poet Robert Sabatier, who wrote "be young as a Beaujolais and age as a Bourgundy".

Opinions about the quality of the fast wine have been divided in France and beyond. Too simple? Immature? The Wine Bible author Karen McNeil said, "Drinking it gives you the same kind of silly pleasure as eating cookie dough." But another eminent wine critic, Robert Parker Jr, wrote that such criticism was "ludicrous" and declared the better vintages as "delicious, zesty, exuberant, fresh and vibrantly fruity."

The wine itself seems to have shrugged off controversies. The uncorking of the first bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau, scheduled on the third Thursday every November in France, is widely celebrated as the world's most famous wine party.

The celebration was joined by its first non-French ambassador for the first time in 2016.

Yan,a fresh university graduate in visual design, became the first Chinese representative of the wine through a poll on a popular Chinese phone app WeChat. After attracting the most votes, 60,000 out of 470,000 cast, she was interviewed by the wine region's promotion office along with two other finalists.

Yan says she was picked "because I am the youngest (among the three) and have a thriving thirst for the easy wine."

She first heard about the wine and its famous festival while studying in Taipei as an exchange student four years ago. Yan, who grew up in a family of wine traders, says she has been craving to be part of the carnival ever since.

In a red-lace dress and a sparkling tiara, Yan joined Miss Beaujolais France last year for the biggest party, held in Les Sarmentelles in Beaujeu, the capital of the region, to uncork the wine precisely at midnight, after fireworks, Moulin Rouge-style dance performances and a countdown joined by tens of thousands of wine lovers from all over the globe.

Dozens of similar celebrations are held across France for the launch of the wine every year. The tradition of drinking wine so young goes back to the 19th century - a treat for grape farmers after the harvest, and an entertaining event in the most bleak season of the year. It was not until the 1960s and'70s,however, that some winery owners turned the race to export newly bottled wine into an event itself. In 1985, the official launch date was set to be the third Thursday of November, inviting a long weekend of merrymaking. Int he United States, it fits nicely with celebrations of Thanksgiving, which comes a week later.

"Miss Beaujolais should be a young and modern lady who is well fitted to the Beaujolais image," says Aurelie Vabre, export promotion officer of the wine region.

His office reports that China started to officially import Beaujolais wines since 2005, about 80,000 bottles. Ten years later, about 530,000 bottles of nouveau wine came to China, which are supplied by some 70 estates or wineries from the Beaujolais region. While the amount is rather small compared with that of Japan, which imports around 8million bottles annually, the office predicts that China will likely be the biggest importer in a decade.

"Beaujolais is well suited for young people who are not used to drinking wines. The lightness and fruitiness is good for the Chinese palate," says Vabre.

The easy-to-drink Beaujolais Nouveau, with its fun and funky tweak, could be seen as one of the "designer brands" in the wine world.

"There has been enough talk about tannins, terroir and other jargon," says Yan."Drinking wine is first and foremost about having fun and enjoyment, isn't it?"

xujunqian@chinadaily.com.cn