We invite you to a complimentary tasting of this dry red wine on Thursday, November 15 in our Tasting Room from 4 – 6 p.m. This year’s Winemaker Series Nouveau displays aromas and flavors of black cherries and plums, and we will be pairing it with Irish Stew from our campus partner’s kitchen at Public House Brewing Company.

In honor of this year’s harvest, we not only created a our annual Nouveau wine, but also a three-part video series covering the harvest from our St. James Winery vineyards. The videos are posted below for you to enjoy prior to our Nouveau Release Party.

The tradition of creating a Nouveau wine originated in the Beaujolais region of France. Beaujolais Nouveau began as an early release wine to celebrate the end of harvest with the intention of it being enjoyed young. Under French law, it is to be released on the third Thursday in November after each harvest.

In the early 1960’s some of the local vignerons saw potential to promote the wine with a contest to see who could get the first bottle to Paris. From there it spread throughout Europe, and by the 1980’s North Americans had joined the party followed by Asia in the 1990’s.

It’s so popular that one third of Beaujolais’ production is dedicated to the Nouveau style with over 28 million bottles produced annually. Following in this French tradition, St. James Winery began creating our own regional Nouveau over 20 years ago right here in the Meramec Highlands.

We hope you will join our St. James Winery family and be a part of this tradition to help us celebrate our bountiful harvest! Until then, enjoy the below video series where our Executive Winemaker, Andrew Meggitt, discusses the topics of weather conditions affecting harvest, quality vs. quantity and farm to table agriculture in Missouri.

It takes the hard work and effort of an entire vineyard and cellar crew to produce our internationally awarded wines. Discover how the fruit is carefully cultivated to ensure the integrity of the wines you know and love!