PARIS (AP) – The 2008 edition of Beaujolais Nouveau wine is here, and vintners hope it will lift spirits despite the financial crisis and a dismal crop.

"The Beaujolais Nouveau is not expensive, you can buy a bottle for four to six euros ($5-7.50). It's profitable in times of crisis," said Daniel Bulliat, a vintner and president of Beaujolais-Beaujolais Village winemakers association.

Vintners hope the festive atmosphere surrounding Beaujolais Nouveau's release will bring some joy after a soggy summer that saw some of them lose their entire harvest. It was the smallest crop since 1975.

"Despite low yields due to bad weather this year, we didn't change the Beaujolais Nouveau's price much because we know it's hard for our customers in times of crisis," said Nicolas Pasqua, manager of Ma Bourgogne, a Paris restaurant specializing in Beaujolais and Bourgogne wine, near the Champs-Elysees.

His customers, sipping at lunch, were divided over the quality of this year's brew. Some say it tasted like pear. Others have noted raspberry tones.

The annual arrival of the young, fruity and heavily marketed wine is generally a cause for parties from Beijing to Las Vegas. Connoisseurs, though, say it is too light to be considered a serious wine.

Forty percent of its production volume is exported abroad. Last year, 18.5 millions of Beaujolais Nouveau bottles were exported to 107 countries for total sales of euro45 million. Japan and the United States top the consumption list.

Anne Masson, spokeswoman for the Inter-Beaujolais wine professionals' organisation, says it is successful abroad because it is an easy wine to drink, sweet and fruity.

"It is accessible in terms of flavour for cultures that are not used to drinking wine traditionally," she said.

But in central Paris, the appeal of Beaujolais may be fading. "Le Beaujolais Nouveau has been out of date in France for two or three years," said Jean Gilbert, manager of beer and wine bar La Cervoise. "We just decided to stop selling it."

It is released traditionally on the third Thursday of November.

Fresco's uncorks the 2008 vintage, Page 46