Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé ... apparently

From local blog Information-Bureau:

It's the third Thursday in November, and you know what that means: Beaujolais Nouveau Day!

Nouveau is a red wine, different from most wines because it's meant to be drunk immediately, rather than aged. It's produced using a different fermentation process of some kind (I won't pretend to understand the details), which allows it to be ready much sooner than most wines. And its release is strictly controlled; no matter where in the world you are, wine sellers are forbidden to sell it before midnight on the third Thursday of November.

The backstory is interesting; this is basically a hugely successful marketing gimmick. As I understand the story, Nouveau was considered an inferior trash-wine until, in the '60s, Georges Duboeuf came up with the idea of making a big production out of its annual release, having big parties, etc.

Unlike most reds, it's meant to be drunk chilled. Being so young and without the mellowing effects of aging, this is not a wine to be drunk slowly and savored; drink it in quantity, and quickly. Cork-dorks (of which I am not one) consider it the wine equivalent of Hawaiian Punch: Totally devoid of subtlety or craftsmanship, as nuanced as a Big Mac.

As a pathetically uninformed aspiring cork-dork, I know nothing about Beaujolais Nouveau Day beyond what I've read at I-B and the linked articles, but it sounds like my kind of day. I'm off work, so maybe I can hunt around town for a bottle today, get all drunk and sentimental and then go sway to some introspective modern folk-rock by one of my favorite artists.

Should be an awesome day.