24 Nov 2013

Imagine mokuru (traditional beer) being poured in a swimming pool, where all indulge not only through their mouths, but also their bodies, all being an appreciation of a bumper harvest.


That would surely be an astonishing sight, best left only to imagination at least in the Botswana context. Certainly not in France! Every third Thursday of November, following a good harvest of the gamay grapes, the French gather in good numbers for a carnival.

The product is used to ferment a special wine for the season called Beaujolais Nouveau. Although not very affluent, Beaujolais Nouveau is of great significance to the French. Every shop in France will sell this type of wine from Wednesday midnight and everyone runs to the outlets to grab a bottle.

“And it is a taboo to drink it before that designated Thursday,” so says Alliance Française de Gaborone director, Antoine Courroy. It is on this Thursday again that people even pour it in their swimming pools and spend the whole day swimming in it.

Last Friday, November 22, the French and their local friends as well as acquaintances gathered at the Alliance Française de Gaborone on a wine tasting festival, this being a miniature of what happens in France. Courroy said the wine was an important product in the French line and so they just gather to celebrate it. He said the festival also symbolises the beginning of the rolling over of Christmas celebrations across France.

He said the celebration is usually commemorated by people from all walks of life across the social strata, this being a unifying factor of the French. “The significance of this wine tasting festival, is for all to come together to chat over a glass of wine, and when the evening is done, they all appreciate each other’s status and sometimes, even feel equal,” he explained.

To symbolise this, the festival had the minister of Foreign Affairs and International Relations Phandu Skelemani and his wife who is an Alliance Française de Gaborone committee member and a French language student.

French Ambassador, Anne de la Blache was also present, moving around the place interacting with all attendants in a friendly and relaxed manner. The festival also had 14 types of cheese to eat with bread.

Courroy explained that in France, every wine had its own type of cheese and bread to go with. Other types of cheese were also provided for the festival attendants to choose to eat along with Beaujolais Nouveau wine. This type of wine, he said, is only available in France. He said it can only be purchased by international buyers from its website, and directly delivered to each purchaser’s door step. ENDS