Wine of the Week – a lovely Fleurie

Beautiful vineyards on the south western border between Fleurie and Beaujolais-Villages.

Some of you will remember that not long ago I visited the wonderful Beaujolais producer of Henry Fessy – read about it here. I really admire their wines and what they do as they seem to be one of the major wineries that is reinventing Beaujolais and reintroducing this wine style to modern drinkers.

When I first joined the wine trade Beaujolais was hugely popular, because fruity red wine did not really exist back then. Beaujolais was just about the only “fruity” red wine and was made fruity by being kept light and acidic. Well, ever since the British love affair with New World wine really took off thirty odd years ago, our definition of a fruity wine has changed. Nowadays we want wines to be fruity and ripe and bold and so Beaujolais has somewhat slipped down the scale of regions people enjoy.

Well it is about time that people revisited Beaujolais and my new Wine of the Week is a perfect time to start.

Fleurie’s Chapelle de la Madonne was built around 1870 to ward off vine diseases. It seems to have worked!

2014 Fleurie Le Pavillon
AC / PDO Fleurie
Henry Fessy
Beaujolais
France

Henry Fessy is one of the great producers of Beaujolais. They have been around a long time and make wines from every single appellation in the region as well as growing grapes in 9 out of the 10 crus.

I like what they do. They have never been tempted to go for the carbonic maceration which often gives those bubblegum chad cherryade flavours and aromas to Beaujolais. Instead Fessy ferment in a more normal, traditional way. The grapes are de-stemmed, except for 20% that adds a little tannin and structure, and crushed and then fermented in stainless steel at low temperatures. This retains the freshness without getting the stalky character than can make some Beaujolais feel unbalanced. The wine is handled very gently to ensure it retains that silky character that defines Fleurie and finally it aged for a few months in tank before bottling.

We have been so lucky with Beaujolais vintages of late, so pretty much all the Beaujolais in the shops right now comes from excellent ripe vintages – and 2014 is no exception.

The extra bottle age on this wine has done it nothing but good – I have noticed repeatedly that Fessy Cru Beaujolais respond well to a little time. They retain that zip, but gain some extra depth too. When first released the wines are all about bright, primary fruit, but a year or so introduces some earthy and smoky complexity that makes the wines feel more complete somehow.

This is a terrific wine that should convert many Beaujolais doubters to appreciate the style. It has weight and substance, while still fundamentally being a lighter wine. The nose gives that gorgeous lifted floral note that is Fleurie’s calling card together with a little touch of spice and ripe red fruit. The palate is succulent an full of raspberry, cherry and cranberry fruit while the age has introduced a little earthy savouriness, while the whole thing feels silky, refined and irresistible – 89/100 points.

Available in the UK at around £13.49 per bottle from Waitrose, Waitrose Cellar. Grab it before 27/11/18 and it is only £9.99!

Beaujolais – a misunderstood region

Beautiful vineyards on the south western border between Fleurie and Beaujolais-Villages.

 

Recently I had a quick trip to Beaujolais as the guest of Henry Fessy and it was a really uplifting experience. I have only been to Beaujolais once before and had come to the view that, with exceptions, the place was generally nicer than the wines. Now I am not so sure as I tasted some fabulous wines from this Cinderella-like region.

Too many Beaujolais wines in my younger days had almost no aromas or flavours at all except that bubblegum and candy floss character that shows the grapes were not crushed and instead the fermentation was carried out by the maceration carbonique process. I can enjoy wines made this way, but usually do not, especially if they are made from Gamay – the black grape of Beaujolais.

Too much of Beaujolais in my past was Beaujolais Nouveau too. This new wine is released in the year it is harvested – on the third Thursday of November. I am sure there are good examples, but on the whole it is very light, very thin, very acidic and, again, tasting of bubblegum, candy floss and cherryade. It is not everyone’s idea of fun and has tainted appreciation of the whole region for many of us, including me. Which is a pity because Beaujolais is about so much more.

Beaujolais can be a surprisingly complicated place for a region that has traditionally achieved most of its fame from producing very approachable wines.

Firstly, although the focus is on the reds, there is a tiny amount of white Beaujolais produced. Made from Chardonnay these white wines are very good quality and well worth seeking out.

Wine Map of France showing the position of Beaujolais just to the south of Burgundy, but only semi-detached in some ways – click for a larger view.

Secondly, Beaujolais has traditionally been regarded as part of Burgundy, in the UK anyway. So much so that in a former life when I sold Georges Duboeff’s Fleurie, in tiny letters it stated “Grand Vin de Bourgogne” on the label. Nowadays Beaujolais is mainly regarded as a region on its own and not a sub-zone of Burgundy.

However this isn’t entirely consistent as there is no such thing as Crémant de Beaujolais for instance. Instead they produce Crémant de Bourgogne. The northern border is somewhat imprecise too with the Mâcon appellation / PDO encroaching all the way down to Romanèche-Thorins in the north-east of the region and even overlapping the Beaujolais Cru of St Amour.

Just to confuse matters a little bit more of course there are some odd labelling laws that permit some producers to label wines made from their Beaujolais vineyards as Appellation Controlée / Appellation d’Origine Protégée Bourgogne whilst denying that to others – this is why you can have Gamay de Bourgogne for instance, and very good it can be too as the grapes have to come from the Cru vineyards of Beaujolais – see below.

Putting all that to one side and looking just at the reds that from Beaujolais, there are three quality levels:

Wine map of Beaujolais showing all 3 quality levels and all 10 Crus.

Basic AC Beaujolais – this is generally grown on chalky limestone and produces very light reds with high acidity.

AC Beaujolais-Villages – from the northern part of the region where the soils can produce richer, rounder wines.

The 10 Crus. The Cru wines are named after the village – with 2 exceptions – within whose boundaries the grapes are grown. The appellation / PDO makes no mention of Beaujolais, just the village name. The most famous of these is of course Fleurie, but there are ten in all – see the map above.

The mill in Romanèche-Thorins after which the wines of Moulin-à-Vent are named.

The two exceptions that are not named after their village are Côte de Brouilly which is named for the slopes of Mont Brouilly, an extinct volcano, and Moulin-á-Vent which is named after the distinctive old windmill that stands amongst the vines of Romanèche-Thorins.

With classic French regions it is quite a good idea to visit a producer who makes from the entire area, because you get an overview made by the same hand and mindset. That is what I got at Henry Fessy and it really made me revaluate my thoughts on Beaujolais.

Laurent Chevalier, the charming director at Henry Fessy.

Henry Fessy was a family run estate from 1888 until it was purchased by the great Maison Louis Latour of Burgundy’s Côte d’Or, who are still family owned after more than 200 years. The 70 hectare Fessy domaine has been run by the genial Laurent Chevalier ever since, with some help from members of the Fessy family, and it provides a wonderful snapshot of what Beaujolais can do.

They own land across the region and produce every single appellation contained within Beaujolais, as well as wines from the Mâconnais in southern Burgundy and even a very attractive Rosé de Provence. Currently they farm in 9 of the 10 Crus with Chiroubles being the exception. They do however produce an excellent Chiroubles from an estate with which they have long term contracts for supply and control of the vineyard.

Laurent explained that they handpick the best sites and destem 80% of the grapes, leaving 20% whole bunches. Old fashioned Beaujolais is not destemmed as the grapes have to be whole for maceration carbonique, so is fermented on the stems. 30 or 40 years ago those stems would not be as ripe as they nowadays, for many reasons, and so the results could be stalky and green. Nowadays greater control means that using stalks is a real choice because it can help with the manipulation of the must and also in the development of fuller wines and silkier tannins – providing those stalks are ripe.

So, by definition here they are not using maceration carbonique. Instead they do very light macerations with not very much wood, just a little for the top crus. What they are looking for is the taste of Gamay, rather than the more recognisable taste of bubble gum from the maceration carbonique.

The big differences between the different parts of Beaujolais are soil and aspect – isn’t that always the case! In the south the gentle rolling hills of most of the AC Beaujolais are lighter, chalkier limestone which produces lighter more acidic wines. The north however has a more complex arrangement of mainly granite with some schist, volcanic basalt and manganese. These all produce richer, rounder, more complex wines. Add aspect into the equation and you can quickly see why the Crus are so different from the rest of the region.

Fleurie’s Chapelle de la Madone was built around 1870 to ward off vine diseases. It seems to have worked!

We talk about the slopes of Burgundy’s Côte d’Or and some other places too of course, but generally the Crus of Beaujolais are not spoken about in the same hushed ones. Well they should be. They are easily the equal of the Côte d’Or to look at, more beautiful if anything, with lovely dramatic slopes often angled towards the sun. In fact where the Cru of Beaujolais score over their neighbours to the north is that here the slopes do not only face one way as they often form a ridge with a reverse slope too. So you can have south, east and west facing Fleurie, and other Crus, vineyard slopes for instance.

That rounded hill is Morgon’s Côte du Py lieux-dit. Fessy blend the fruit from their part of the Côte du Py into their Morgon rather than bottle it separately. The soils here are a mixture of granite and schist, decayed slate.

The different soils of the various Crus are important too as the best wines can be very mineral and make you certain that you can taste the various soils in the wines. Some people believe that happens, but most science points to something else explaining minerality in wine. A function of acidity perhaps? My own feeling is that it is a mixture of acidity and a lack of dominating, rich fruit. We are used to so many red wines being big and bold with rich primary fruit characters nowadays. Well, however ripe a Beaujolais is it will be a relatively light style of wine, so the fruit will not totally overpower the palate. Instead it will leave space for acidity and those other flavours that are not fruit, but come across as more savoury – and indeed earthy or mineral.

So the Crus have more poise, more depth and more elegance than the more basic wines because they have components competing for attention on your senses. It isn’t just red fruit, you also get some black fruit from time to time, the earthy and herbal mineral characters and yes sometimes that sense of granite or slate introducing savoury aspects and tension into the wines.

Mont Brouilly, an extinct volcano, the soils are blue volcanic basalt. Right at the peak you can just see La Chapelle Notre-Dame-aux-Raisins.

They are balanced and complete and yet again the truth is much more interesting than what we are normally told about Beaujolais. These wines can last. They don’t need to be drunk young, in fact just as with most good quality red wines a few years in bottle will settle them down and draw out the more complex and satisfying attributes. The things that actually make them good wines as to opposed more simple fruit bombs.

I generally go around telling people to ignore vintage with most modern wines – for wines to drink anyway. Normally the freshest vintage is the one to go for, but obviously with classic red wines that is not the case and good Beaujolais, especially the Crus, must join that band of elite regions where vintage is a really important consideration.

2003, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2015 and 2016 are all brilliant vintages down in Beaujolais, with 2017 being great as well. There might still be some 2015 around in the shops and I would advise you to grab those bottles while you can.

I really enjoyed everything I tasted at Henry Fessy, but some of the real standout wines were:

2016 Beaujolais Blanc
AC / PDO Beaujolais Blanc
Henry Fessy

Less than 3% of the plantings in Beaujolais are Chardonnay and Fessy only have 1 hectare, but on this showing I cannot imagine why as this is a terrific wine.

100% Chardonnay with no oak but 6 months ageing on the lees.

It has a lovely texture, satisfying mouthfeel, ripe apples and peach fruit and even a touch of something more exotic like pineapple and grapefruit. Lovely freshness keeps it poised and pure and the length is fantastic too.

This is a really good alternative to anything at the more affordable end of white Burgundy – do try it if you can – 89/100 points.

Available in the UK for £12.99 per bottle from Mr Wheeler & Hay Wines.

2016 Morgon
AC / PDO Morgon
Henry Fessy

Fessy only have 2 hectares of Morgon and so blend the Côte du Py with the Corcelles fruit. They believe the Côte gives the body and the other part gives the sumptuous fruit quality.

I found this lifted, aromatic and very attractive. There was a seductive raspberry and smoke tinged perfume to it while the palate was silky and refined yet rounded and weighty with cherry strudel sorts of flavours and a crack pepper together with some lovely delicate structure from the refreshing nature of the acidity and the light touch of tannin playing around the finish.

Fresh, lively and fruity for sure, but supple and concentrated too. – in fact the concentration and balance was a revelation to me – 89/100 points.

Available in the UK for £12.99 per bottle from Fareham Wine Cellar.

2015 Brouilly
AC / PDO Brouilly
Henry Fessy

The abnormal character of the vintage really showed here with rich fruit that still shows that playful, fresh character.

This was 80% destemmed with 6 months ageing in stainless steel tanks.

The nose offered plums and violets, orange peel and that mineral earthy je ne sais quoi. The palate was full and ripe, succulent, juicy with a lovely, lively combination of red and black fruit, spice too and a touch of firm tannins. This was not so immediately about fun as the Morgon, there was a very serious, brooding wine lurking in there with an earthy, slate minerality, there was even a touch of Côte du Rhône about it. Great wine – 92/100 points.

Available in the UK for around £15 per bottle from Crump Richmond Shaw,F L Dickins, Wine Utopia, Cellar Door Wines.

2016 Régnié Château des Reyssiers
AC / PDO Régnié
Henry Fessy

I have always had a soft spot for Régnié as it was the last of the 10 Cru to be created and I remember where I was the day it was announced back in 1988.

This was made from 40 year old vines grown on a single site at the base of Mont Brouilly. The Châteai itself dates back to 1706 and wine has been produced here for over 300 years prior to Henry Fessy taking over the management of the estate. As usual with Fessy 80% of the vines was destemmed and the wine was aged for 6 months ageing in concrete tanks.

Lovely bright, but deep cherry aromas with a touch of something smoky and savoury. The palate had lovely weight, fruit density and concentration that made me really like this wine.

There was lots of classic fresh red fruit, but plum and blackberry too. There was something wild about the wine at times that was most attractive and all the while a sense of tension, something taut, offset the softness of the fruit and was enhanced by the gently firm earthy finis – 90/100 points.

2017 Saint Amour
AC / PDO Saint Amour
Henry Fessy

Sadly I have experienced precious little Saint Amour in my life – on this showing it was my loss too.

Fessy only farm 1 hectare in Saint Amour but they put it to good use as this was stunning and I was not alone in raving about it at the tasting.

The wine showed its youth with milky, lactic notes and then a vibrant melange of red fruit, cassis and delicate spice notes.

The palate was beautifully concentrated, but bright and pristine all at the same time. The fruit was just joyous and bright and well, downright pretty. It was supple and and ripe even though the winemaking esters were very apparent at this stage. There was a lovely supple, rounded, almost creamy texture and more tannin than you would expect, although it was not aggressive in any way, it just helped give the wine definition. One to watch I think- 91/100 points.

Available in the UK for around £15 per bottle from Crump Richmond Shaw,F L Dickins, Wine Utopia, Cellar Door Wines.

By the way just in case you like to age wines, you can relax as these wines can age really well, from the great vintages anyway. At Lunch Laurent served us his 2009 Moulin-à-Vent and it was sensational. It had aged beautifully into a supple yet profound wine with silky tannins and concentrated earthy, savoury, light leather and dried fruit characters. In many ways it resembled a Gevrey-Chambertinn but with more sensual fruit and a slightly brighter nature.

So there you have it, a little cross action of what one very fine Beaujolais producer does. These are wonderful wines that deserve to be taken seriously and enjoyed often. They would go with so many different dishes and be suitable for just about any occasion. Who knows perhaps the balance between concentration but not heavy, ripe fruit and freshness might be just right for now? Perhaps Beaujolais’s time has come? Laurent certainly felt that he was “taking Beaujolais back” and showing just what Beaujolais can be.

The realisation may have struck me late in life, but there is no doubt that Beaujolais does make some lovely wines and I really must start enjoying them instead of avoiding them – and so must you.

 

Chilied red wines

As it’s Summer I thought that I would write about something that I like, but it seems to me that many people resist the idea, in the UK anyway – chilled red wine.

In the UK it seems to be a cultural fixation that the only acceptable way to serve a red wine is at the temperature of the room that you happen to occupy. Because that is what ‘room temperature’ is – right?

We seem to all be taught that red wine should be served at ‘room temperature’, and most people that I meet interpret that to mean that you should serve it pretty warm. I have even heard more than one self appointed wine expert in a pub or restaurant telling people that red wine is better served as warm as possible.

Well the truth is that this fabled ‘room temperature’ concept long predates modern central heating. In the eighteenth and nineteenth century the sorts of houses that had decent wine in them were large and unheated, therefore they wouldn’t have been hot by our standards at all, unless you were standing right by the fire.

The Wine and Spirit Education Trust, who are the leading wine education body in the world, deem room temperature to be between 15˚ and 18˚C, much cooler than most centrally heated rooms today.

As far as I can discover this focus on room temperature, like so many ‘traditional’ things is a purely Victorian invention. The Victorians loved to bring rules into things, perhaps to make it easier to spot who was socially acceptable and who was not.

I was always taught that the reason we serve red wine on the warm side is that if you have cool red wine it makes the tannins more aggressive and if you warm it, the tannins are smoother.

And up to a point that is true, but like so much to do with wine, it isn’t totally true.

Even the purists admit that you can lightly chill light-bodied red wines – the likes of Beaujolais or Valpolicella, but personally I would go further than that.

Go to Spain and chilled red wine – even fine red wine, is completely normal. I well remember several years ago attending a tasting of superb Spanish wines from the Grandes Pagos de España group of producers. It was led by the wonderful Carlos Falcó, the Marques de Griñon himself and he carefully brought his own wines from his hotel in order to be able to serve them as he wanted to. These are some of the finest and most expensive wines of Spain and the bottles were frosted with moisture. These were cold, not just lightly chilled – and they were perfect that way too.

Many years ago I was in Belthazar’s, that most marvellous wine bar in Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront complex and trying two different examples of Syrah from South Africa. They were both excellent wines, but served at the traditional temperature in Cape Town’s Summer heat they tasted like a bowl of soup and were pretty heavy going.

I have found that, for me anyway, red wines are best served a little cooler than is traditionally thought to be wise. I always like the bottle to feel cool to the touch, whereas when I was younger I wanted the bottle of a red wine to feel a little warm. For me this touch of coolness accentuates the freshness of the wine, and I like freshness. It prevents the wine from feeling gloopy and soupy and so keeps it drinkable.

As for cool red wines being more obviously tannic, well I don’t always find that to be the case. It does depend on the wine though and the food I am eating and the situation. The warmer the weather the cooler I want the wine.

Having said all that, I am not inclined to chill an overly tannic red wine. Left bank Bordeaux for instance does not work with chilling at all, even for me. Which makes me wonder if that is where the concept came from originally, as Bordeaux was the first modern fine wine region – hence its reputation. So the lighter choices are still the best ones, but for me, but the list is much longer than just Beaujolais and Valpoicella.

Personally I really like chilled Cabernet Franc from the Loire, especially the lighter and unoaked versions. Chinon works especially well in my opinion – try this lovely example as long as the wine is light with the emphasis on the crunchy red fruit, rather than oak and structure, then it will work nicely. Like so many of these chilled red wines, serve it with charcuterie, crusty bread and pickled cornichons, with the vinegar drained out, for a delicious combination.

Be careful with expanding this concept to new world Cabernet Franc as these tend to be more akin to red Bordeaux in structure, so are probably best not chilled.

Another grape variety that works chilled is Pinot Noir – even the purists accept that Burgundy should be served at cellar temperature. The soft tannins of Pinot lend themselves very well to being served cool as there is plenty of acidity to make the wine feel fresh. Great Pinots to be chilled include the lovely, bright fruity versions from Alsace or red Sancerre, but perhaps the best ones are from New Zealand – this example would work particularly well chilled. These bright, seductively fruity wines are silky with very little tannin and are lovely chilled and paired with salmon or summery chicken dishes – or enjoyed at a barbecue.

The great value Pinot Noirs from Chile, Romania – and here – and southern Germany are absolutely perfect for chilling too. They have soft, silky tannins and bright, vivid fruit all held together by refreshing acidity that makes the wines feel juicy and fresh, everything that works best in a chilled red wine.

Bardolino is another light red wine from northern Italy that is good chilled. It comes from the shores of Lake Garda, very close to Valpolicella in fact, and is at its best when chilled. There is very good Bardolino around, but even a basic one will be more attractive served cool. This example is joyfully fruity, direct and pleasurable – just the thing for an alfresco meal or a barbie.

Italy actually has quite an array of lighter red wines, perhaps more than anywhere else. The bright, light, fresh style of Barbera from Piemonte can fit the bill perfectly too. Don’t chill an expensive one, that will be oaky and fine, but a standard one that will be all about sour cherry fruit and refreshing acidity with soft, low tannins.

The Italians often like their red wines to be juicy and refreshing and a good starting point for chilled red wine can be Lambrusco. This fascinating wine style with its bright purple foam has its detractors, but the real thing – it should only be red and has a Champagne style cork – is so delicious and slips down with so many foods, especially the rich fatty cuisine of its native Emilia-Romagna. However it is also a good with a smoky barbecue, curry – yes really – or cold cuts and cheese. Try this one, this one, this one and this one to to see what you have been missing.

Another exciting Italian wine that is light and extravagantly fruity is a Frappato from Sicily. You don’t come across them every day, but they can be delicious, bursting with red fruit and have refreshing acidity. It’s a style of wine that probably explains why the Sicilians like red wine and fish so much. Try this one chilled with any al fresco meal, or even pizza.

 

Central European reds are sometimes not as popular as they ought to be in the UK, but Blaufränkisch can be utterly delicious. It is principally known as an Austrian grape and like Pinot Noir can produce lovely wines as a rosé, light red or something finer and more structured. The Germans, and Americans call it Lemberger – not Limberger, which is a cheese from the the Belgian/German/Dutch border – while in Hungary they call it Kékfrankos. It makes great wines in Slovenia too, where it is usually known as Modra Frankinja.

Another Austrian grape that I like to drink chilled is Zweigelt, which is especially good with the sorts of grilled food that I enjoy in summer. It is actually a cross made from Blaufränkisch and St Laurent and at its best leans in a sort of spicy but not quite Syrah and soft but not quite Pinot kind of way. Try this, this or this example.

Still in central Europe, there is a grape called Trollinger. It originated in the South Tyrol – hence the name Trollinger / Tirolinger – but has become mainly associated with the Württemberg region of Germany, where it grows on some of the most beautiful vineyards in Europe. The wines can be very pleasant, although I much prefer the other local speciality, Schwarzriesling. This, of course, means Black Riesling, which is the local term for Pinot Meunier. The reds made from this are deliciously fruity, but savoury too and again the lighter versions are lovely chilled – you can read about some here if you scroll to the bottom of the story. There is a good one available here too.

Trollinger is still grown in the Alto Adige / Sud Tirol and Trentino regions where it is known as Vernatsch or Schiava. The wines are quite extraordinary and very scented, but can be delicious, light, fruity – strawberry – and a little smoky, so again good with grilled food and barbecue when chilled. Like Beaujolais these wines are usually made in a way to emphasise the fruit and not tannin, so you also often get those candy floss and bubblegum characters that you get in many Beaujolais wines.

If you are looking for something a tad more serious, but still lovely chilled, then perhaps a Poulsard might do the trick. This grape is mainly grown in France’s tiny but fascinating Jura region – click here for the definitive guide to the wines of Jura with maps drawn by yours truly. Like Pinot Noir, Poulsard is thin skinned, so gives light red wines in terms of colour, tannin and body, so a Pinot lover should like them. I find them to have red fruit, spice and to be somewhat earthy and rustic, but in a really nice way, which makes them perfect food wines and something a little different. Try this one or this one.

I am sure that there are plenty more red wines that are good served chilled – in fact Spanish Garnacha with hearty meat dishes or a barbecue – but that is surely enough for now? I just wanted to propose some things that were a little different to help push the idea of chilled red a little.

The best thing is to experiment with it and find out what temperature you like best – it’s your wine after all.

Minerality in wine – flight of fantasy, fact or terroir?

The Mosel - slate slopes and a cool climate

Wine tasters and wine trade people often talk about minerality in wine – possibly too much, but I have always assumed that it means something, even though spell checkers hate the word. However I often come across people who find it hard to understand the term in reference to wine and yesterday I met someone who positively hates it.

Minerality to me describes many of those characteristics in a wine that are not fruity – yes there are some – especially in youth before the aged leathery or honeyed characters take over. Some wines are blindingly mineral, like the terpene/petrol notes of Riesling and a few other grapes. Some are chalky, in others you would swear that you can taste granite, iron, flint or slate, while others are more vaguely mineral. It is slightly confused, because scientific research seems to say that the vine does not deliver actual mineral flavours from the soil in which it grows – so where does it come from? It is possible that it is sometimes the acidity and sometimes the sensation of the tannins, but is it also possible that it is an utter flight of fantasy? A case of grasping at straws?

Red wines for summer – I rethink Beaujolais

In the heat my thoughts hardly ever turn to red wine, I normally seek refreshment in the summer.

What happens when you want something a little more, well red, on a summer’s day? Well a rosé can work, or there are some lighter reds, some Pinot Noir, Valpolicella perhaps, or something from the Loire?

The absolute classic of its kind though is something that I, for one, hardly ever think of drinking – Beaujolais. For quite some time now I have wondered if perhaps I do Beaujolais an injustice and should have another look at this wine that fashion has left behind.

Don’t Judge a Wine by the Label…

On a hot day I almost always shy away from red wine and head for a white or, especially when I am on holiday somewhere hot, a rosé – sometimes even a beer

However, recently I was fortunate enough to try a red wine from Spain that was delicious on a hot day and was hugely enjoyable with a light meal of steak and salad.

This bottle was from a terrifc bodega in Rioja Alavesa, Bodegas Remírez de Ganuza which really is producing some of the most exciting Rioja around at the moment and is building a huge following and growing reputation for its great wines – in my opinion they make one of the very finest white Riojas there is.

The wine I tried this time was their most basic red: