For 20 years, Beaujolais Nouveau has been served on tables worldwide… thanks to DHL

Paris, October 2005 - For more than 20 years, DHL Danzas Air & Ocean, the air and ocean forwarding business unit of DHL’s logistics group, has been working in the wings to make sure that Beaujolais Nouveau is poured into glasses across the world on the same day and at the same time. This year, the world is getting ready to clink glasses on November 17, at 00:00, zero hundred hours precisely. Since the beginning of October, the DHL Danzas Air & Ocean teams have been on the starting blocks. France and the rest of the world have been raising their glasses of Beaujolais Nouveau - that festive nectar made from the white juiced black Gamay grape - since November 1951. This was when the appellation “Beaujolais Nouveau” first came into being after authorization was given to market certain AC wines (Appellation Contrôlée, 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 from 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. This year, the pruning knife made its first cuts during the first weekend of September in the most advanced vineyards. Some three weeks later, all 3500 Beaujolais wine producers had completed their grape harvest. For DHL Danzas Air & Ocean, the “Beaujolais Nouveau” operation gets under way well before November. As far back as the beginning of June, the group’s specialists are already hard at work negotiating with airlines and reserving firm allocations. As a result, this year DHL Danzas Air & Ocean is specially chartering 6 complete aircraft flying out from Lyon Saint Exupéry, Roissy Charles de Gaulle, Amsterdam and Luxemburg. Specialist teams are being mobilized not only in France but also in the 150 countries where the 2005 vintage is awaited. The very tight turnaround times involved impose “just in time” logistical patterns on the delivery of the vintage: it cannot leave the European Union any earlier than 8 a.m. on November 10, 2005 and absolutely must be released for consumption on Thursday November 17, at midnight on the dot. (Because of the time difference, the Japanese will discover its aroma before the French do!) In the space of two weeks, 2,200 tonnes of Beaujolais Nouveau – in other words more than two million bottles – are thus collected by 130 trucks and taken to the DHL Danzas Air & Ocean platform at Lyon Saint-Exupéry airport. It takes 4 days to ship them all across the world from this very platform, or from other European Union platforms (Paris Roissy CDG, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London…). 1,100 tonnes are flying off towards the United States. 700 tonnes are heading for Japan and 150 tonnes for Canada. Other bottles will be taking off for the Bermuda islands, the West Indies, Korea, Polynesia, Australia … 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 DHL Danzas Air & Ocean: Master Airway Bills, shipment consolidation and related documents, detailed packing lists, wine and spirits custom clearance, 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. On arrival, the DHL Danzas Air & Ocean teams are ready to take delivery of the 2005 vintage and to re-distribute it to the consumption points. One thing is certain, the whole world is ready and waiting to taste the 2005 vintage at midnight on November 17! DHL Express, the express division of the group, also has a part to play by delivering Beaujolais Nouveau to the four corners of France This year with the Beaujolais Nouveau 2005 release, 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 - 48 hours. Precise specifications govern the way the wine is distributed and all DHL Express branches are trained in the distribution process. Press contact: Daniela Peter DHL Danzas Air & Ocean, Communication Manager: Tel +41 (0)61 274 71 38, Fax +41 (0)61 274 71 98, E-mail: daniela.peter@dhl.com Background on DHL Deutsche Post World Net is the world’s leading logistics group. Its integrated Deutsche Post, DHL and Postbank companies offer tailored, customer-focused solutions for the management and transport of goods, information and payments through a global network combined with local expertise. Deutsche Post World Net is also the leading provider of Dialog Marketing services, with a unique portfolio of efficient outsourcing and system solutions for the mail business. Some 380,000 employees in more than 220 countries and territories worldwide generated revenue of €43 bn ($58 billion) in 2004.