Wine of the week: an alluring Beaujolais
2011 Beaujolais, Vieilles Vignes Cuvée Traditionnelle, Domaine de Vissoux, Burgundy, France (£11.30, Great Western Wine, 01225-322810; www.bouquetwines.com; www.slurp.co.uk; Stony Wine Emporium, 01908-267373; Blanco & Gomez, 020-7352 8680).
I occasionally host slightly unusual wine tastings on behalf of Quintessentially Wine. Alongside the regular claret dinners and Burgundy masterclasses, I also match fine wine to intricately blended scent at Miller Harris, in Mayfair, and to William Curley’s exceptional chocolates in Pimlico. One wine that has appeared at many of these eclectic events is this magnificent Beaujolais, and it also happens to be the most perfect summer red I can think of.
Made by Pierre and Martine Chermette, this is one of the most succulent, rewarding and authentic wines you could hope to find from this underrated region. Made from old vines, using traditional methods, this is the antithesis to the ridiculous Nouveau muck that gave us all headaches in the Eighties and Nineties.
It is a hand-crafted, velvety, unfiltered, wistful, artisanal wine with masses of class and a tiny price point. Gamay is regarded as a second-class citizen in the grape hierarchy, but this example is as alluring and noble as any pinot noir.
• Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition’s Communicator of the Year (www.matthewjukes.com).