Jean-Paul Brun / Domaine des Terres Dorees, Beaujolais (Burgundy, France) 2016

 Forget all your preconceptions about Beaujolais being light, quaffable, and frequently forgettable.  This wine is instead dark, medium-bodied, and full of earthy character.  Its secret?  One can’t know for certain, but the vineyard is extremely rocky, so the vines have to struggle to get nutrients, their roots extending far beneath the surface.  Whether that “terroir” provides the wine with its distinctive character may be a matter for debate, but there can be no doubting the appeal of that character.  And at less than $20 a bottle, the wine is a great value.