This year, one of England’s leading wineries will release its own take on a nouveau wine, a day before France’s traditional Beaujolais Nouveau Day. Balfour Nouveau 2025 is the latest release from the Kent based winery and is being positioned as a genuine rival to our neighbours across the Channel, as the quality of the UK’s red wines continues to go from strength to strength following a stellar 2025 harvest.
Beaujolais Nouveau Day began in post war France as a local celebration of the year’s first wines, but over the decades it has grown into a global event, with bottles racing across borders to reach glasses around the world by the third Thursday of November. In recent years, the tradition has found new life in Britain, particularly in South Wales, where restaurants, pubs and wine lovers mark the day with French feasts and fresh reds.
Now, Balfour is inviting wine fans to look a little closer to home. Rather than waiting for the lorry from Lyon, this November it is Kent that will pour the first taste of the 2025 harvest.
Made from 100 percent Pinot Noir (clone GM2013) grown in England’s premier region for red grapes, the Crouch Valley in Essex, Balfour Nouveau 2025 captures the excitement of a new vintage and the confidence of a maturing English wine scene. The fruit undergoes a semi carbonic whole berry fermentation following a 24 hour cold soak, then spends a short period in older French barrels. Bottled in late October, it arrives bright, fresh and bursting with red fruit energy.
“This isn’t about imitation,” says Fergus Elias, Director of Wine at Balfour Winery. “It is about confidence. We are showing that English Pinot Noir has the ripeness, the fruit and the finesse to stand on its own. This is a wine that I really could not have made even ten years ago, but our industry is maturing fast and we can now produce internationally important styles. So we thought, why wait until France says it is time to celebrate?”
This is the second time Balfour has released a nouveau style wine, and following a long, dry summer Elias felt the time was right to produce another, after the first sold out in record time. Alongside the Nouveau, Balfour has also launched a new Signature Pinot Noir to critical acclaim and sees red wine as an important part of its future.
Dining and Cooking