DHL Prepares for Worldwide Shipments of Beaujolais Nouveau 2005; Time-Critical Shipment Heralds 20 Plus Years DHL Has Delivered Special Vintage.

PARIS -- DHL, the world's largest express delivery and logistics company, has mobilized DHL Danzas Air & Ocean (DDAO), its air and ocean forwarding business unit, to ensure that millions of bottles of Beaujolais Nouveau 2005 make their time-critical midnight November 17 consumption release deadline.

To meet the imposed worldwide delivery requirements - the vintage cannot depart the European Union earlier than 8 a.m. on November 10, 2005 and absolutely must be released for consumption on Thursday November 17, precisely at midnight -- DHL will charter six aircraft from Lyon Saint Exupery, Roissy Charles de Gaulle, Amsterdam, and Luxembourg, and mobilize specialist teams in France and in the 150 countries where the 2005 vintage is awaited.

In the space of two weeks, 2,200 tons of Beaujolais Nouveau - more than two million bottles - will be collected by 130 trucks and taken to the DHL Danzas Air & Ocean location at Lyon Saint-Exupery airport. Four days are required to ship these bottles across the world from this DDAO location or from other European Union locations such as Paris Roissy CDG, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and London.

France and the rest of the world have been raising their glasses of Beaujolais Nouveau since November 1951. This was when the appellation "Beaujolais Nouveau" first came into being after authorization was given to market certain AC wines (Appellation Controlee, a legal classification for wines produced using grapes grown in a very specific area) ahead of the general release date for wines. However, it was only in 1985 that a specific release date for the consumption of "Beaujolais Nouveau" was introduced - the third Thursday in November at midnight. More than 30 years had passed before the world finally began to clink glasses in unison on the same day.

About 1,100 tons make their way to the United States. An additional 700 tons are heading for Japan and 150 tons for Canada. Other bottles are destined for Bermuda, the West Indies, Korea, Polynesia, Australia and places beyond. The bottles are carried on board specially chartered flights as well as on regular services run by partner companies.

All necessary administrative, customs and security formalities are handled by DDAO including: Master airway bills, shipment consolidation and related documents, detailed packing lists, wine and spirits custom clearance, and advance warning to the destination to announce the arrival of the freight. The accompanying documents are scanned and/or faxed to the destination port ahead of customs clearance.

DHL Express, the express division of the group, also has a part to play by delivering Beaujolais Nouveau to destinations in France.

This year with the Beaujolais Nouveau 2005 release, the DHL Express branch in Lyon Corbas is ready to handle more than 1,000 consignments (parcels and pallets) representing a volume of 125,000 bottles to be delivered all over France within 24 to 48 hours. Precise specifications govern the way the wine is distributed and all DHL Express branches are trained in the distribution process.

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