A joyous Bojo and a classic white Burg

An epic Beaujolais Cru with a tiny price tag, and a good old classic, infantryman white Burgundy.

2018 Côte de Brouilly, Les Grillés, Domaine Chevalier-Métrat, Beaujolais, France

£14.50, reduced to £12.95 each by the case, Lea & Sandeman, 020-7244 0522, leaandsandeman.co.uk

I love this outfit and I knew exactly what to expect as this wine approached my olfactory gear. I also knew I would approve of its flavour, too, but, of course, I never pre-judge. The surprise came when the aroma actually sought me out rather than the other way around. The next fillip was the buoyancy and purple-hued freshness, with energy and vitality flooding in from all angles, which should mirror the weather at this time of year and also lift our collective moods (and by golly we need that right now).

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This beauty is a benchmark Côte de Brouilly, an epic Beaujolais Cru, one of the kings of wines, and yet it wears a tiny price tag for a creation with this level of gravitas and joy. This wine region should be front and centre of every wine collection right now because it is bargain-priced, drinking now and it goes with everything you are cooking in your kitchen!

And while you’re shopping with Lea & Sandeman, why not load up with the white equivalent of my ebullient red pick. 2018 L&S White Burgundy, Mâconnais, France ( £13.95, Lea & Sandeman) is a good, old, classic, infantryman white Burg, from the heart of the Mâconnais. Sourced from a wonderful plot of vines in Mâcon-Davayé, this is a stylish and gentle Chardonnay with enough zip to sip before you take your place at the table as well as enough mid-palate pizzazz to continue drinking with a perfectly roasted chicken or pan-fried Dover sole.

• Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition’s Communicator of the Year (matthewjukes.com)

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Matthew Jukes

Matthew Jukes has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books.  

Matthew regularly lectures, judges, speaks at wine conferences and runs masterclass tastings for both corporate and private clients all over the world. Matthew is also the creator of his ground-breaking initiative, the One Day Wine School, an indulgent day of tasting and learning first performed in 2006.

He has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006 and has written a weekly column for the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine since 1999. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website, www.matthewjukes.com.

Matthew is one of the world’s leading experts on Australian wine and, with Brisbane-based wine writer Tyson Stelzer, runs an annual competition in Australia to find ‘The Great Australian Red’.  He was made Honorary Australian of the Year in the UK at the 2012 Australia Day Foundation Gala dinner. 

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy.  His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.