Florine De Feussal Fleurie 2007

So following on the Pinot Noir from New Zealand yesterday, todays offering is a Gamay Red from Burgundy. For those of you who have not tried a Beaujolais yet – WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR. The wines are fun, light, summery reds that offer a lot of the characteristics we are so found of in Pinot Noir.

The Florine was a light cherry red coloured wine we very light colour intensity. The red was a much less florescent red then you get with some New World Pinots – quite old world in its colouring.

On the nose there were strawberries, raspberries and not a lot else to be honest. Aromatically this was quite a top heavy wine by that I mean that there was an initial hit of fruit and then then wine just faded away. So secondary flavours or anything else of interest. But hold on a second here RFWINE – what do you expect for a €6.99 bottle of wine – it isn’t going to be some fantastic wine that will blow your mind ! This is true and at €6.99 a considerable portion – approx 50% is going to the Government in a mix of Vat and Duty. My argument is that for a euro more – for example Cuvee Jean Paul from Curiouswines blows this wine out of the water. If you have committed to spending €6.99 just push the boat out a little bit more and get something that is a lot more interesting.

On the palate the fruit taste fake as if they have been made with melted down starburts. The same basic flavours of strawberries and raspberries come through and follow on to a slightly bitter finish. This wine is reminded me of over diluted ribena – if ribena made a red fruit flavour version. If you were to make a glass with the concentration and instead of adding a cup of water you added a litre of water – the flavours would all but disappear and the glass of ribena would not taste right.

I can see why Mr Bampfield says that this is a red for those who would normally drink white – in that it is light, without any major oak treatment or tannins for that matter. My only issue is that for me it was not that pleasant a glass of wine. It tasted thin, watery, with basic fruit and a bitter finish. These are not characteristics that I would pay money for when there are other options at roughly the same price point.

Robertfranciswine – 68 Points

Available from – Lidl Stores

Price Bracket – €6.99 reduced from €9.99