Paris Celebrates ’88 Beaujolais

PARIS — Seals came off the barrels and corks popped all over Paris today after the midnight embargo on consumption of this year’s Beaujolais nouveau expired.

Thousands of Parisians braved the chill of the November night to sip a glass of the wine whose annual export by jet, helicopter, boat and truck to all corners of the world has boosted both image and sales of the French viticulture industry. Le Figaro newspaper described this year’s batch of Beaujolais as “more nuanced, more subtle and more traditional than last year’s.” Last year, 8 million bottles of Beaujolais crossed the Channel to invade beer-based English pubs.