It has been a week of alcoholic highlights, and, yes, I’ve made the most of it. Oh, don’t be like that, you sound like Mrs Ray with her tut-tut-tutting and eye-rolling.
The Spectator Wine Club tour of Bordeaux was followed by a Rhône dinner with Domaine Vieux Télégraph, a champagne dinner with Virginie T, a fine whisky tasting with Boisdale and Duncan Taylor Whisky, a lunch with Springfontein and a weekend for 40 readers at Swinton Park in North Yorks.
We had some great grub at Swinton, the tastiest of all dishes being roast grouse paired with a brace of contrasting Pinot Noirs, surely the best of all grapes to partner great British game. Fine Gamay also works well, especially after a few years in bottle, and I’m delighted to present, courtesy of Honest Grapes, three Beaujolais and three red Burgundies ideal for the season’s culinary bounty.
The 2023 Clos de la Roilette Fleurie (1), from the nine hectare estate of the Coudert family which borders Moulin-à-Vent, is named after La Roilette, a noted racehorse of the 1900s, and you have to peer closely at the label to gather the wine’s from Fleurie at all. But it is and it’s a delight – rich, full and juicy thanks to old-vine Gamay fruit and manganese-rich clay soils. Delicious now, it will age well, taking on more profound notes as it does so. £16.80 down from £17.80.
The 2018 Famille Vincent Juliénas (2), from Ch. Fuissé and the fifth-generation wine-maker Jean-Jacques Vincent, shows just how well fine Cru Beaujolais can age. Who says you must drink Beaujolais young? It’s in great shape and, produced in traditional manner with open tank fermentation and maturation in both tank and barrel with no carbonic maceration, is almost Pinot Noir-like in its soft, mellow, hedgerow fruit and hint of savoury mushroom on the finish. You could keep it even longer just for interest’s sake. £20.80 down from £21.80.
I’m delighted to present three Beaujolais and three red Burgundies ideal for the season’s culinary bounty
The 2022 Albert Bichot Secret de Famille (3), from the revered 194-year-old Maison run by the sixth-generation Albéric Bichot and technical director Alain Serveau (twice the International Wine Challenge’s Red Winemaker of the Year), is a blend of fruit drawn from the Maison’s finest vineyards in and around Nuits-St-Georges, Marsannay and Chambolle-Musigny. Fresh, sweet and succulent, it’s soft, light and extremely approachable. £23.80 down from £24.80.
The 2022 Albert Bichot Rochegrès Moulin-à-Vent (4) is the same Maison’s take on top-quality Beaujolais, and darn tasty it is too, from a 12 hectare vineyard in the heart of the climat of Rochegrès. With rich, juicy blackberry/wild cherry fruit, full and concentrated, it’s gratifyingly mouth-filling and, at 14% volume, gratifyingly high in alcohol too. £25.10 down from £26.10.
The 2023 Jane Eyre Bourgogne Rouge (5) is from the deliciously named Australian hairdresser turned French vigneronne Jane Eyre, who has worked with Honest Grapes ever since she and HG’s C-in-C Tom Harrow bumped into each other at the Hungry Cyclist lodge in Auxey-Duresses ten years ago and hit it off. This wine is so pale and light that it looks almost like a rosé. In the mouth, however, it’s full of bright, lifted, expressive Pinot fruit and is almost thirst-quenchingly drinkable and engaging. Jane really does make lovely wines. £27.80 down from £28.80.
Finally, from the former Maison Champy boss, Pierre Meurgey, who now makes his own wines at Dominic Lafon’s Ch. de Bligny, albeit in artisanally small amounts, the 2019 Pierre Meurgey Côte de Nuits Villages aux Montagnes (6), a perfect example of what he’s about. Made from the fruit of carefully selected old vines, produced with minimum intervention, it’s headily scented with ripe wild strawberries and raspberries to the fore and is juicily satisfying with the softest, smoothest and silkiest of textures. With only a few hundred bottles made, it’s one to tuck away. £32.80 down from £33.80.
The mixed case has two bottles each of wines 1-6 and delivery, as ever, is free.
Oh, and just to say that I’ll be hosting a Spectator trip to Burgundy on 19-23 October 2026, arranged by our partners at Kirker Holidays. The finer details are still to be nailed but the dates are set. Do let us know if you’d like to join us.
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To find out more about our Winemaker Lunches, Masterclasses and Wine Tours, visit spectator.co.uk/tastings.
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