TOKYO –
Beaujolais Nouveau, France’s newly produced wine traditionally associated with autumn, arrived in Japan on September 28 about a month earlier than usual after a record-breaking heatwave accelerated this year’s grape harvest.
An Air France passenger aircraft carrying the wine landed at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport at around 5:30 a.m.
Beaujolais Nouveau normally begins arriving in Japan in late October, but record heat in France during the summer caused grapes to ripen and be harvested earlier than usual. This year’s shipment is the earliest arrival on record.
“The heatwave resulted in grapes with greater ripeness and higher sugar content, and the higher sugar levels have also pushed the alcohol content to its highest level ever,” said Yumeki Sato of Suntory’s wine division.
Despite the early arrival, the wine will go on sale on the usual release date, the third Thursday of November, which falls on November 19 this year.
A 750-milliliter bottle is expected to sell for around 3,250 yen.
Source: TBS
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: newsonjapan.com
