Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Villages 2015

From - Beaujolais, France
Grape - Gamay
Alcohol - 13%
Available from - Waitrose,  Tesco
Price - £10 (currently £7.50 in Waitrose)

Appearance - Clear, medium intensity, purple.

Nose - Clean, medium+ intensity, youthful.  Red fruit (cherries, redcurrants, raspberries); black fruit (blackberries), plus a touch of floral (violets) and earthiness.

Palate - Dry, medium intensity, medium+ alcohol, medium+ acidity, medium body, medium- tannin.  Lots of red fruit and violets.

This is excellent value, even at full price.  It is very smooth and has surprising intensity and more than its fair share of complexity.  I could see it matching up with a whole host of dishes.

Laboure-Roi Mersault 2012

From - Burgundy, France
Grape - Chardonnay
Alcohol 13% abv
From - waitrose.com (not waitrosecellar.com)
Price - £16.99

Appearance - Pale, clear, gold

Nose - Clean, pronounced, tropical fruit (melon), green fruit (apple), citrus (lemon), stone fruit (melon).  Youthful

Palate - Dry, high acid, medium+ alcohol, medium+ body, medium+ intensity, long finish.  Citrus fruit (lemon), green fruit (apple), mineral (steely),

Conclusions -  good, can drink now but suitable for further ageing.  High priced.

This is really good, with great body, lots of zingy acid, and plenty of length.  I would imagine that this would be a bigger treat in a few years.  I imagine drinking this with something in a creamy sauce, for a great match.

Photo copyright Jenny Hynes 2015.

The Society's Monthelie 2010

From - Burgundy, France
Grape - Pinot Noir
Alcohol - 13.5% abv
Available from - thewinesociety.com
Price - £17.50

Appearance - Clear, light, ruby

Nose - Clean, medium+ intensity; developing with red fruit (redcurrant, cherry) and spice (cinnamon)

Palate - Dry, medium+ acid, medium tannin, medium intensity, medium+ alcohol and body, long length.  Red fruits and spice also on the palate, and a touch earthy.

Silky tannins, good body, flavour and length, Very good quality.

George Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau 2014

From - Beaujolais, France

Grape - Gamay

Alcohol - 12%

Available from - Waitrose

Price - £7.99

Appearance - Clear; medium intensity; ruby

Nose - Clean; medium- intensity; cherries, redcurrants, a touch floral

Palate - Dry; medium acid; medium alcohol; low tannin; medium length; medium body; sour red fruit, slightly earthy.

Balance - 8  Length - 5.5  Intensity - 5.5 Complexity - 5

Beaujolais Nouveau is a 'harvest to table' wine that is produced quickly to a good standard, but must be drunk promptly, as the vibrant fruit will simply fade and it will go off before very long.  Around this time of year, every year, this wine drops on a specific date which is rather hyped, but the buzz encourages people to drink a drop of wine, so I'm all for it.

Georges DuBoeuf's Beaujolais Nouveau has won a rather prestigious gong, it seems.  Namely, the Lyon-Beaujolais Gold Medal.  BN is generally light and fruity, but this seems to have something just a touch extra. It is going down really quickly!  

Nicolas Potel Pouilly Fuisse 2012

From - Burgundy, France
Grape - Chardonnay
Alcohol - 13%
Available from - waitrosecellar.com; uvinum.com
Price - £12.99

Appearance - Clear, golden, medium intensity

Nose - Clean; medium intensity; developing.  Apples, lemon, a touch of melon

Palate - Dry; medium acid; medium+ alcohol; medium+ body; medium intensity; medium+ length; apple and lemon.

Balance 7, Length 8,  Intensity 6, Complexity 5

This is a delicious Burgundy white.  I think it would improve in the bottle.  The nose is just a touch more intense than the palate.  I think that this would impress on a special occasion, and I think you're getting a classy bottle of wine for a pretty decent price.

Joseph Drouhin Chorey-les-Beaune 2011

From - Burgundy, France
Grape - Pinot Noir
Alcohol - 13%
Bought from - Waitrose
Price - £15.99

Appearance - Clear; medium intensity; garnet

Nose - Clean; medium- intensity; developing; redcurrant, cherry, pepper

Palate - Dry; medium+ acid; medium alcohol; medium body; medium- tannin; medium intensity; cherry, raspberry, redcurrant.

Balance - 5, Length - 8 Intensity - 6  Complexity - 5

A Burgundian Pinot Noir with lovely, fruity length.  Organic and bio-dynamically produced, it doesn't score high on anything but length but is really delicious and very easy-drinking, and justifies its higher price.  As a typical Pinot Noir, it works well served cool or even slightly chilled, and is great to drink on its own or with lots of different types of food (as long as it isn't sweet). 

Laboure-Roi Cote de Beaune-Villages 2012

From - Nuits St Georges, Cote d'Or, Burgundy, France
Grape - Pinot Noir
Alc - 12.5%
Price - £10.99
From - waitrosecellar.com

Appearance - Clear, pale, ruby.  Paler to rim

Nose - Clean; medium+ intensity, developing; red fruit (raspberry, red cherry); sweet spice

Palate - dry; medium+ acidity; low tannin; medium alcohol; medium body; medium intensity; raspberry and spice, earthy.

Conclusions - very good; mid priced (at least); ready to drink, may improve.

Balance - 7 Length - 8 Intensity - 6.5 Complexity - 7

I really like this.  It is more intense on the nose than the palate, and the experience begins as soon as you open it.

The low tannins and lightness of the wine, and higher acid, would make it a versatile wine with food and more likely to be of the palate of someone who doesn't always enjoy reds.  The earthiness is, I understand, very common in red burgundies, and is really very palatable.

This vintage I think is now hard to get hold of, but look out for the next one.

Bouchard Pere et Fils Beaune du Chateau Premier Cru

From - Burgundy, France
Grape - Chardonnay
Alc - 13.5%
Price - £25.99 (currently £20.99)
From - waitrosecellar.com

Appearance - Clean, medium intensity, lemon.

Nose - Clean; medium+ intensity; developed; lime; herbs and spice, maybe gooseberry?

Palate - dry, medium to medium+ acid; medium+ body; medium intensity.  Apples, limes, mineral, medium+ length.  Silky.

Quality - very good, higher price.

Ready to drink, but can improve.

Balance - 8 Length - 8 Intensity - 6 Complexity - 7

This is an interesting wine.  It is quite high priced but there are subtle characteristics that mean you get a feeling for it being higher quality.

There is a silky-smooth mouth-feel, a good bit of length, and nice minerality (if you like that, not everyone does).  The citrus flavour is the most full-on, so it's important to savour it to consider the other aspects.

A really agreeable point is the fact that the balance is very good, and the experience of drinking it got better and better as the bottle went down, backing up the comments that I made previously about the considered importance of balance.

With a wine with subtle complexity like this, it is important to allow the temperature to raise a little from chilled to lightly chilled, as a very cold serving temperature can inhibit flavour.

I did enjoy this wine very much, but it is expensive.