SPECTATOR WINE CLUB

Very good value

Auberon Waugh

I prices have been significantly

A

reduced, one or two, like the magnificent Montes Alpha 1988 (from £8.90 to £7.50), quite spectacularly. First a pleasant, easy Chardonnay") from what is irritatingly called the Jardin de la France. The chardonnay is doing quite well in this untraditional region, and the price of £5.40 struck the panel as reasonable for such a full and tasty wine. It is at the sweeter end of the chardonnay spectrum, but none the worse for that, and recommended, when chilled, as an aperitif.

The next wine puts this offer on the map with an exciting discovery. I had never heard of Jackson Estate, and suspect the 1991c might be its first vintage (only because Hugh Johnson's 1993 Pocket Wine Book tells me so), but it strikes me as every bit as good as Cloudy Bay, with greater richness in the dry honey finish, and about £2.50 the bottle cheaper. Nobody could mistake it for anything but a dry wine, but It is very, very fruity, with a strong sugar- removed dessert gooseberry in the mouth Coming after what I describe in my tasting notes as a 'sweet tom-cat' on the nose. This may not be a selling image, but it is the best 1 can do to describe a seriously excellent and exceptional sauvignon blanc which once again puts New Zealand right at the head of the field of this important, classic grape.

Now for the reds. The Cuvee du Champfleury" has proved its popularity with Spectator readers before. It is a good strong, meaty yin ordinaire, excellent value at £3.80 — dry, full and easy, with absolute- ly nothing nasty or suspicious lurking in its good, clean taste. It merits better than my slightly patronising note — 'jolly good for the poor' — but, by its nature, it is for the drinker. It does not cut a social dash. Its message to the world is simply `glug, glug'.

If I dwell at greater length on the Chateau Lande Bertin 19900', which won a Silver Medal at last year's Paris Wine Fair, it is because I feel it makes rather more social effort at £3.95 than the excellent Champfleury does at £3.80. It also took considerable efforts on my part to get it below £4. If I had to guess at the cepage, I think I would go for cabernet franc as much as cabernet sauvignon. But when all that has been said, it is an absolutely acceptable straightforward claret: beautiful dark gar- net colour, a strong, clean mouthful of Proper wine, with the added social satisfac- tion that we are still able to drink proper claret, instead of limping with our tails between our legs to the former colonies or the happy holiday camps of the Jardin de la France. This is a good, nourishing, reason- ably elegant wine, and I am very pleased to be able to offer it at under £4. There were those who claimed to detect d smell of shoe-polish in the Montes Mer- lot 1990'", but it is an agreeable enough smell. As one expects from Chile, this wine carries much greater weight of fruit than its price of £4.40 suggests. It certainly provides a rich, easy drink on the sweet side of the merlot spectrum (but bearing not the slightest resemblance to any known Pomerol), but for me everything was over- whelmed by the Montes Alpha 19881°) and by our extraordinary good fortune in get- ting it for £7.50 the bottle.

The reason for this wonderful price is the enthusiasm of Spectator readers when I produced the 1987 as a first taste. They accounted for 110 cases at £8 the bottle and were still yelling for more. This proves that people are prepared to pay a reasonably serious price for colonial and Third World wines if they are good enough. The 1988 is pretty well exactly the same, so far as I can remember, but 50p the bottle cheaper in deference to our wonderful recession: dark, black colour, rich, deep smell, with the slightest touch of sweet eucalyptus to betray its colonial origins, marvellous con- centration of cabernet blackcurrant, not sweet (less sweet, I would say, than the famed 1982 blackcurrant cordial from Mouton Rothschild), and not pastilly, but elegant, strong and pure. I can understand that those who missed the Montes Alpha last year will want to put their toes in the water with a sample case before punting £90 on an unknown and possibly hairy His- panic, but advise them to re-order sharpish if they are to avoid disappointment.

The sample case", at £62.60, works out at £5.21 the bottle: between the two majes- tic peaks of the Jackson Estate Sauvignon" and the Montes Alphe, reduced from £8.90 to £7.50, there are some very useful prominences, of which the Chateau Lande Bertin 1990 deserves special mention at £3.95.

ORDER FORM SPECTATOR WINE CLUB c/o Hedley Wright & Co. Ltd., The Country Wine Cellars, Twyford Centre, London Road, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM23 3YT. Tel: (0279) 506512 Fax: (0279) 657462

White I. Chardonnay Domaine Petit

Price No. Value

Château 1991 12 Bots. £64.80

Jackson Estate Sauvignon 1991 12 Bots £75.00 Red

Cuvie du Champ'kw), NV

12 Bots. f45.60

Chateau Lande Berlin 1990 12 Bots. £47.40

Monies Merlot 1990 12 Bots. £52.80

6. . Monies Alpha 1988 12 Bots. £90.00 Mixed

Sample case, two bottles of each 12 Bots. £62.60

TOTAL (Cheque enclosed)

Please send wine to: Own name & address, if different: NAME NAME ADDRESS ADDRESS POSTCODE POSTCODE Prices include VAT and delivery on the British mainland. Cheques should be made payable to the Spec- tator Wine Club. Payment with order please. Orders using Visa or Access cards may be faxed or tele- phoned. This offer, which is subject to availability, closes on 27 November, 1992.

Visa/Access No: Signature Expiry Date