Last updated 12:30, Friday, 28 March 2008

Top Tipples with Alan Irving

WINES can be either feminine or masculine, no two ways about it.

ndeed, I came across a wine in the last few days that likens itself (or herself) to an actress who was ranked one of the sexiest and most beguiling women on the planet.

“This suave, feminine wine is reminiscent of Audrey Hepburn... because it’s hugely elegant, extraordinarily pretty with a graceful personality.”

I take the point but then “My Fair Lady” is well out of my reach – not at £230 for a single bottle!

This, as you might expect, is one of the burgundian aristocrats by the name of Romanee St-Vivant but if you’re feeling flush and needing to know whether it comes up to expectations then try Majestic, one of the best wine sources around to suit most purses. Majestic has a Cumbrian outlet just outside Kendal.

For an exquisite feminine wine at a more affordable price then just pop along to the local supermarket.

Beaujolais best fits the bill, but not just any old Beaujolais. What you’re looking for is Fleurie, which derives its name appropriately from perhaps the prettiest wine village in the whole of France.

Beaujolais. These are serious wines not to be confused with that gimmicky liquid called beaujolais noveau.

Fleurie, with a delicate silky taste and a lovely perfume of violets, comes quickly to maturity and is known as the Queen of Beaujolais. Precociousness is said to be one of her main features!

Julie Morgan, in our office, said she didn’t like beaujolais because it tasted like Ribenna but she knows what she likes in a wine – “smoothness, a Californian, like a George Clooney,” she purred.

Well, Fleurie is definitely one for Julie. I’ve vowed to prove it to her after previously converting her to pinor noir.

She also expressed a liking for a good sturdy red in the mould of Tommy Lee-Jones, who she described as experienced and mature.

An Australia shiraz or a chateauneuf-du-pape might be in order here, but my own recommendation is Fleurie’s masculine equivalent – he’s called Morgon.

This, along with another called Moulin-a-Vent, vies for the title of King of Beaujolais, this is slightly studier which gives it longer life, but no less smooth and instantly delicious to install an immediate feeling of well being.

A French poet once wrote: “Beaujolais is a wine that inspires those who appreciate its intrinsic qualities, – friendship, tenderness and generosity” – one could add sensuality, whatever the gender!