A wine from the Beaujolais region would not normally be lurking in the ‘Spicy’ red section of our list, but then this wine is rather different, in very delicious ways. Jean Foillard bought a very run down estate in 1982, buying more land and fixing it up over the years to its current size – 11 hectares. All of this land lies on the slopes of a extinct volcano in Morgon with a myriad different soil types, the predominant being a crumbly schist which gives his wines an amazingly earthy quality.

Fruit is grown completely organically, although Jean does not believe in certification, and the wines are both unfined and unfiltered – which means that all the chunks are left in. The result is absolutely sensational – but not necessarily what you would expect, even from a Morgon where bigger, grippy styles are the norm. There is a prominent meaty character which is balanced by violet and red cherry flavours and fantastic earthy spice. Despite the extra grip, the tannins are still amazingly silky . This wines is also made with hardly any S02, so it should work well for those who react rather badly to this.

Good With

Game birds