Paris:- Saturday, 23. November 1996:- France likes to be goofy sometimes, and this past week saw the annual hoopla about the opening, on the third Thursday in November, of this year's Beaujolais Nouveau. This is a 'primeur' wine, made from this year's grape harvest, only a couple of weeks ago - and as such, would not be considered fit to drink, if it were not for the goofiness.

This is not restricted to the French; wine drinkers from all around the world have got the craze - and in past years there were races and other odd-ball delivery competitions.

Whether the wine is ready or not, it is allowed to be sold and drunk at exactly 00:01 on the third Thursday in November. This year this was last Thursday.

To add a bit more - broadness - to this report, I asked reader Nigel White in Sydney to tell me what Australians do about Beaujolais Nouveau - thinking that it might not be much because they have a lot of their own wine down there.

This is what Nigel reported:

"There is an article in Friday's edition of the Sydney Morning Herald - today, 22. November - about the fact that Sydneysiders are among the first people in the world the drink the new stuff because of the dateline quirk and adherence to the letter - if not the spirit - of the Beaujolais rule which apparently says that you can't drink the stuff before 10 am on the 3rd Thursday in November.

Of course this time arrives in Sydney ten hours before it does in France. The Australians take dastardly advantage of this technicality and start drinking Beaujolais 10 full hours before the Parisians. I doubt this will win any friends for Australia in Paris, but c'est la vie.

Check out the Sydney Morning Herald website at http://www.smh.com.au/. There is an article there about it under National news entitled, 'Glitch in Time Takes Drop on Paris Wine Buffs.'"

While riding on the train to see the 'thousands in the streets' around the Marché Saint Honoré on Friday - I figured they would still be there - I turned over this ten-hour time advance thing in my head and started counting my fingers.

Nigel is right: it was 10:01 Thursday morning in Sydney, 16,000 kilometres from Paris - when it was 00:01 Thursday morning in Paris.

Most wine bars in Paris close early - between 20:00 and 22:00, but some of them stay open later. So I phoned around a bit and on the second call got a bingo! from Willy's Wine Bar. The barman on duty the evening of Wednesday-Thursday said he sold a glass of Beaujolais Nouveau - to an American - after midnight and before 00:30. So much for Sydney's advance.

According to reports, 'Sydneysiders' take Beaujolais Nouveau seriously enough to have all sorts of competitions and buggy races, but this has fallen off in recent years. This year, there was only one importer, and he wants to see a little more action from his competitors next year.

On Wednesday, Le Parisien featured a list of seven wine bars and at least one of these - Jacques Mélac - intended to be open right on the button of 00:01.

Sydney has the 10:00 - 10 am - rule so the the drinking of the first drop of Beaujolais Nouveau there coindides with the first drink in Paris.

In the mid-'70's wine was the preferred drink for accompanying meals in France but since then three million consumers have deserted the grape. If they are only drinking about 70 litres per head annually now, they are drinking better qualities - due in part to a resurgence in interest of the products of the countryside, that are not pasteurized, shrink-wrapped or frozen solid.

Le Parisien devoted several pages to the subject over several issues during the week. If you are a regular reader of Metropole, you will know I was looking for it a week early - even though I had noted - but forgotten - the correct date in the notebook I always carry.

Wine people are a little crazy and this Beaujolais Nouveau, including the less well-known other 'primeurs' such as Côtes-du-Rhône or Gamay, but also the genuinely appreciated Maçon, are sold in enormous volume. Last year, despite all problems, 47 million bottles got emptied. This year, the dealers are counting on moving 55-60 million, worldwide. Santé!

Truckers' Blockades Approach Paris

The week before last it was the owners of transport trucks who staged a little 'warning' demo in Paris, with a few symbolic 'snail races' around the Périphérique and a lot of trucks jammed into a corner of the 12th arrondissement.

This past week it has been their truck drivering employees who have progressively widened an action around France in favor of retirement at 55, and other issues. Talks broke off Friday night between driver's unions and the trucking industry - and it looks as if the barricades are getting closer to Paris.

Out in the rest of France, drivers have used their truck to form barricades around fuel distribution centres, and by late in the week many gas stations were bone-dry. The barricades are thickest around Bordeaux and in the Rhône valley, but fuel depots everywhere are targets - including the one at Rouen.