A sherry and a Beaujolais

This time of year is always a challenge blog-wise as one is attempting to recalibrate one's vinous intake after December. This week I've actually been below the government's drinking guidelines!

Fortunately there are a couple of random things which G and I drank in December which have been sitting on the back burner waiting to be written up. This Fino Una Palma from Gonzalez Byass came as part of a Wine Society mixed case of sherry - as I'm always saying, the main reason for being a member of the WS is access to its great range of advantageously-priced sherries.

This was the 2015 bottling, and en rama apparently means raw so it is not clarified or filtered. It's 6 year old fino and supposed to be drunk within 6 months - not a problem at AduV Towers. It had that bracing, tangy, salty fresh thing and was a fantastic sharpener. We didn't drink it all on day 1, but when I had another glass on day 2 it had definitely gone downhill. The bottle is 50cl, so it might be a good one to drink with friends in future.

Four years ago I was given the Dos Palmas and the Cuatro Palmas by my father, both of which were great in their own way and I wrote about them here. After that, I'd intended to get the Una and the Tres to complete the set, but never did, so it was nice to finally get to try the Una. I'm not sure exactly how much it cost, being part of the mixed case, but it's available for around £11 here (which seems to be a special offer), while the Dos Palmas is now about £17.

Also before Christmas, G visited Brussels and brought back this 2009 Fleurie made by Jean Foillard. I wasn't familiar with this producer but it turns out that his wines are very natural: no synthetic herbicides or pesticides, rigorous sorting, minimal/no sulphur, no filtration. This came in an enormous, weighty bottle exuding class. It was a deep purple colour, and was vibrant, with lovely intense sweet red and black berry fruit. "Gosh" said G. We had it with goose rillettes, which was a great combination, and it also went very well with cheese. We thought that if we'd been tasting it blind and someone had told us it was Morey St-Denis, we'd have believed them. It's expensive by Beaujolais standards, but it's worth it.

Next week sees the flurry of 2014 Burgundy en primeur tastings but as usual there's only one in my calendar - the Burgundy Portfolio tasting on Thursday on 14th. I had favourable impressions of the vintage from my trip in October, so am looking forward to tasting them again and getting some of them stashed away in my cellar!