Red Wine With fish?

The region of Beaujolais, which is just to the south of Burgundy, is made up of 10 named village Crus, each of which has its own distinct character. The wine included in this month's case is amongst the best known, Fleurie. Aside from the geographical link, these appellations share a few vinicultural similarities.

The first of these is the Gamay grape variety from which every red wine from the area must be made. This is a thin skinned variety which lends itself to light bodied, low tannin wines with notes of bubblegum and violet. The second is the process by which the juice is extracted from the grapes, a process known as carbonic maceration. Rather than the normal process of crushing grapes prior to fermentation they encourage the fermentation of the juice whilst still inside the berry, eventually causing the grape to explode. The result of this is very little tannin extraction and a very light, fruity wine.

As you may imagine, the evocatively named Fleurie is the lightest, prettiest, and most floral of the 10 Beaujolais Crus. It produces soft bodied, fragrant wines with perhaps surprisingly concentrated notes of strawberry and rose petal and a vivacious acidity which lends itself well to charcuterie and grilled white fish.