Domaine de Colonat Les Charmes Morgon 2023

100% Gamay. We’ve only ever featured a Beaujolais cru in our Best In Show selection once (a 2020 Fleurie), so this year’s double appearance (in a year when no red from further north in Burgundy came through the judging rounds) marks a step forward for this ever-more-significant wine region. When Morgon is on song, there is no Beaujolais cru that can match it for exuberance and seductiveness of perfume – and this dark purple-black wine is a splendid example of that astonishing charm. Cherries and plums cascade from the glass. On the palate, it’s no less exuberant: packed with tongue-coating fruit, and with its acidity in turn dripping with fruit sweetness and perfumed flesh. There are light, graceful tannins but nothing else to break the fresh-fruit spell – it’s a very pure wine, aged entirely in concrete, and bottled without any reduction, false or specious notes. Gorgeous drinking. Best in Show. Score – 97. (Decanter World Wine Awards, 2024)