French restaurant Cuisine & Wine Bistro in Gilbert will be celebrating Beaujolais Nouveau on Thursday, Nov. 21, with wine tastings and special dishes to pair with the new wine.
In France, the holiday on the third Thursday of November signifies the end of the wine harvest throughout the country.
It is mandated by French law that the Beaujolais wines cannot be released until this date.
In Beaujeu, capital of the beaujolais wine region, a celebration takes place over five days with dancing, music, and tastings of all the beaujolais wines.
Throughout the region, more than 100 festivals typically take place celebrating the release of the season’s newest wine.
“We will be celebrating Beaujolais Nouveau with our own festivities at the restaurants,” said Executive Chef Fabrice Buschtetz, who owns and operates the restaurant with his wife, Mairead, and their adult children. “Our guests can try different flavors with this new wine.”
The couple also own a Cuisine & Wine Bistro in Chandler.
Both locations also will be sharing tastes of the Beaujolais Nouveau, and special dishes have been added to the evening’s menu to pair with the new wine.
They include “saucisse en croûte sauce beaujolais nouveau” – a sausage dish – and “blanquette de veau aux petit legumes” –a veal ragout stew. For dessert there will be chocolate truffles and strawberries.
Cuisine & Wine Bistro sommelier Killian Buschtetz, Beaujolais Nouveau grapes are harvested by hand and the wine aged only six to eight weeks.
“It is fresh, fruity and low in tannins,” he said.
“This is a young wine, and it’s meant to be drank while it’s young. It is a very straight-forward wine, sometimes quite fruity,” he added. “This is a wine to enjoy, to drink and not just sip. It’s fresh and zesty.”
Cuisine & Wine Bistro opened its first location in 2015 at 1455 W. Warner Road in Gilbert, followed two years later by its Chandler restaurant at 4991 S. Alma School Road.
The owners previously lived in Fabrice’s native France where Fabrice Buschtetz is a third-generation restaurateur.
Dining and Cooking