Wine of the week: an enchanting chardonnay from Belgium

2019 Château de Bousval, Gouttes d’O Chardonnay, Bousval, Jardins de Wallonie, Belgium

£34, reduced to £30.25 each by the case, Haynes Hanson & Clark, 020-7584 7927, hhandc.co.uk

Early one evening, just before Christmas, the doorbell rang and a voice shouted out “wine delivery”. This is nothing new – it happens ten times a day – but I thought I recognised the voice. The cycle courier turned out to be none other than Jim Eustace, MD and fine-wine guru at Haynes Hanson & Clark. Soaking wet, but grinning from ear to ear, he was clutching two bottles of white each with a dribble of wine left inside. He handed them over and then sped off, shouting, “Happy Tasting, they are from Belgium!”.

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Until that evening, I had never tasted Belgian wine. After a quick search on the internet, I found that Château de Bousval is situated only a few miles south of Waterloo, where I spent a few years at school when I was a child. This wine is a biodynamically farmed, pin-sharp, pristine chardonnay, and it is absolutely enchanting! Delicate, haunting, packed with vitality and verve, and only tipping the scales at 12% alcohol, this is a rare beauty and it even manages to hide a whisper of oak in its core, too. This is effortlessly classy winemaking from an unexpected postcode and so when the stock arrived in the UK last week I had to sing about it.

While you are at it, pick up its sibling, 2019 Le Petit Gris Pinot Gris (£40.95 a bottle/£36.40 each by the case), which takes this oft-dreary grape to a fascinating destination. What a pair, what a find!

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

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Matthew Jukes has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006.

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

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.