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.

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!