Mont Verrier, La Tonne, Fleurie, Beaujolais, France 2020

Compared with its other nine Beaujolais cru peers, Fleurie is never 'the most' of anything -- except, that is, of charm. The pretty name, too, promises a beguiling scent. This heady as well as head-turning combination is sometimes hard to live up to in practice … but not here. This wine is a dark, opaque black-red, and from the moment you dip your nose into the glass, you'll find all of the flower-fruited lift you expect, allied to flavours which fill the mouth with bright cherry and plum but do so in a way which never calls either charm or scent into question. The wine's weight is all fruit, too, with tissue-soft tannins, and the cherries and plums themselves continue to evoke blossom as much as juicy, spurting flesh on the palate. You might, though, find just a touch of granite stoniness in the finish – enough to detain and thrill on the second (or third) glass. Drink as soon as possible, lightly chilled.

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