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Festive Wines
Our wine expert Steve Hearnden fancies a drop of Beaujolais this Christmas
IT IS THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN and the festive season is upon us. It only seems like a couple of weeks since I was last writing about Hogmanay and Christmas - how time flies!
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I have just had delivery of some Beaujolais wine. Many years ago the fashionable thing to do was to get Beaujolais Nouveau on the day it was released from Beaune. Wine enthusiasts would meet in the town a couple of days before the release date and try all the various domains’ wines. Having drunk gallons of the wine, they then, at midnight on the given day, would load up their cars and race back to the UK to be the first to sell the new wine. Many did not make it back alive due to the amount they had drunk and the race was eventually cancelled.
However, the wine I have imported is all vintage and all made from the Gamay grape. There are 10 named villages and a wine called Beaujolais Villages. Each village has its own micro-climate and variable soils and so the wines are all slightly different. All are light and fruity, with black cherries and spice as the key tastes, and have subtle bouquets. They are best served cool. The Beaujolais Blanc (£10.75) is made from the Chardonnay grape and is light and honeyed, not sweet though. Brioche and biscuit are both in the aromas, too. It is perfect for the starter on Christmas Day.
The fruity Morgon 2014 (at £11.75), with the hidden spice, would certainly accompany the main course.
But if a Beaujolais is not your preferred choice, then use one of our Christmas cases, each filled with a wide selection of wines, to find something to suit for your festive meals.
There are mixed cases of all three colours or a case of six bottles of red wine or/and a case of all white wines. I have written about a lot of these wines in previous editions of Feast, but descriptions are available on my website, and you can email any questions to steve@tastebudswines.co.uk
TASTEBUDS WINES Norwich Road, Strumpshaw opens by appointment. Visit www.tastebudswines.co.uk
