Beaujolais Nouveau: A Luxury Good?

At the prices it commands, one would be hard-pressed not to believe that Beaujolais Nouveau was a fine week, up there with the 2nd or 3rd tier Bordeaux wines. While lower-grade Bordeaux wines can go for as little as a 1000 yen (6 EUR), Beaujolais was selling at a local liquor shop for 3300 yen, or about 20 EUR at current exchange rates.

This in spite of the fact that Beaujolais can be drunk for about 3-5EUR in France even at the moment of it's release, the third Thursday in November. The high price reflects the air freight costs required to have the bottles ready in hand for those who want to be among the first (after Australia, perhaps?) to taste Beaujolais.

Needless to say, I held back (still on a budget) and am making do with vin de table from central France. Just one year ago, I remember the crowds celebrating the coming of Beaujolais until late in the evening -- 1, or 2 AM, in the courtyard just below my apartment. No such sounds tonight ... in my neighborhood, people are probably already fast asleep, or will wait until the surface (sea) shipments of Beaujolais (at about 10 EUR a bottle) arrive ...