£19.99, Majestic

There is cheaper Fleurie but this is really lovely example – and when I say lovely I don’t just mean pretty. It is pretty, especially its vibrant floral, red berry and cherry aromas, but there’s much more to it.
It’s a Fleurie with stuffing, structure and concentration but all carried lightly under a drift of pure red and black fruit woven with spice and minerals.
Château Pougelon is owned by the Descombe family and run by fifth generation winemaker Marine Descombe and her husband. The estate is organic and sustainable and Marine’s approach in the winery is very much low-intervention.
Gamay grapes from the sand and pink granite soils of the Grille-Midi (‘hot midday’) plot are hand picked and sorted, then macerated in whole bunches, fermented in concrete tanks with wild yeasts and aged for 13 months in concrete.
Good Fleurie – and the other Beaujolais Crus – are your flexible friends when it comes to food, so these are just a few ideas for this 2020: salmon or a rare tuna steak; bresaola, carpaccio, smoked duck breast, air dried hams, rillettes and charcuterie; roast chicken or coq au vin; bacon-wrapped roast quail; rabbit stew with olives; vegetable kebabs, hummus, a bean, chickpea and feta salad or vegetarian mezze.
Château de Pougelon Fleurie Grille-Midi 2020, Fleurie, Beaujolais, France
£19.99 in any 6-bottle mix, £24.99, singly, Majestic
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