Wine Lovers Toast Arrival of Beaujolais Nouveau

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:46 JST, November 20, 2025

Bottles of Beaujolais Nouveau, which releases every year on the third Thursday of November, have gone on sale in Japan.

Produced in the Beaujolais region of France, the red wine is sold the same year that the grapes are harvested.

Enthusiasts of Beaujolais Nouveau toasted the occasion with glasses of the fresh wine at various events in Tokyo.

“It’s fresh and fruity,” said a 61-year-old company employee from Tokyo. He attended an event at wine specialty store Vinos Yamazaki Ginza in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward. “It’s as delicious as I expected,” he added.

The domestic market for Beaujolais Nouveau has continued to shrink in recent years due to the diversifying tastes of consumers, among other reasons.

Suntory Holdings Ltd., the only major alcoholic beverage company in the nation that handles the wine, imported about 37,000 cases this year, a slight decrease from the previous year.