Beaujolais has arrived!

Third Thursday in November -- way back in August this moment seemed so far away, and now, I'm experiencing it in real time.

Beaujolais was officially released to the public today, the third Thursday of November, and I picked up a bottle this evening on my way back from school.

This week has been a grueling week of seminars and projects dealing with "evaluating entrepreneurial opportunities." Two months ago, we were given the task of identifying such opportunities. Now the situation has changed: if you are presented with two business plans, which of them do you choose? How and why?

It was especially interesting this time around because we got to meet with a real-life venture capitalist and so-called "angel investor" (generally a semi-retired person who wants to contribute not only capital but also technical and entrepreneurial advice to younger entrepreneurs) who have actually funded companies.

I had come into this workshop believing that venture capitalists and "business angels" (as those angel investors are called here in Europe) were people with a lot of money on their hands and able to absorb any losses from ventures they took part in. But after hearing them talk about their experiences, I realized that failure is part of their expectations (at least one-third of the ventures they fund fail) and that they have an important part in the process because (of course) it is they that provide the cash -- the fuel -- for the whole entrepreneurial process.

It's not a clear-cut process and even the business plans don't pan out as they always should (so said both the VC and the BA mentioned above).

But again, I digress.
Beaujolais nouveau. In Japan, shipped by air, maybe $15 a bottle. (That gives the Japanese the privilege of being the first to drink it).

Here, at the local supermarket, with the cork still stiff (freshly stuck into the bottle it hasn't absorbed the moisture from the wine and so was difficult to pull out), today, 3,50 EUR (less than $5).

It's not terribly outstanding wine but after a long week and everything ...! Still got classes tomorrow but it was good to have Beaujolais in real time. A nice memory to be able to look back on some years down the road.