Domaine des Duc, Saint-Amour Cuvee St Valentin 2011, France
With just over two weeks to go until St Valentine’s day, every wine scribbler in the world will be looking for romance-themed wines to recommend: rosee wines, Champagnes, anything with a suitably punny name perhaps. Well, this week I present the entirely appropriate Saint Amour Cuvee St Valentin for your consideration. Saint-Amour is one of the best and most serious of the ‘Cru’ villages of Beaujolais (where red wines are made from the Gamay grape) and whilst this plays up the romantic connotation with its flower-strewn label, the stuff inside is actually pretty serious. The colour is s vivid, deep crimson, and the nose has the requisite cherry and sappy, gently woodland note with touches of briar and green peppercorn. On the palate there’s a certain meatiness to this wine, the core of sweet cherry and summer pudding fruit butteressed by good acidity and some grippy tannin, which whilst easy to drink and quite full, gives it savoury structure too. This will drink on February 14th – and for the next half dozen February 14ths too no doubt. Watch the video for food matching ideas. 12.80,
