2018 Beaujolais-Lantignié, Alexandre Burgaud, France
£14.50, bbr.com
I have a number of guilty pleasures to admit to – wines that are supposedly a little low- brow, often rather too affordable, usually early-drinking, but, to me, utterly delicious and unique. Don’t laugh at my vinous confessional. Perhaps by standing up and being honest, others might feel free to express their deepest, everyday-drinking wine desires out loud. Asti, Vinho Verde, Beaujolais, Muscadet, Picpoul, Verdicchio, Soave and so on – these are wines I adore and, I must be honest, buy and drink by the gallon.
They are wines that my friends also enjoy and if you find tiptop examples they only cost a few quid more than the dreary, run-of-the-mill versions that made these styles rather unfashionable in the first place. With this in mind, I cannot think of a young Beaujolais I have enjoyed more than my featured wine this week.
Burgaud’s Beaujolais-Lantignié is made from his oldest vines, which are mainly planted on the fabled blue granite soils that bring class and depth of flavour to wines like Morgon Côte du Py. There are ten villages in Beaujolais that qualify for Cru status (Fleurie, Morgon, Moulin-à-Vent, Brouilly et al) – and if this wine is anything to go by then Lantignié is in the running for accreditation. I would rather it wasn’t recognised so the price stays fair and we can drink celestial wines like this one while cocking a snook at wine snobs everywhere.
Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition’s Communicator of the Year (matthewjukes.com)