SPECTATOR WINE CLUB
Time for Indulgence
Auberon Waugh Abefits the summer, a preponderance of white wines with, once again, th% mirac- ulous rosé from Château de Sours which no one will ever forget who tasted the 1990 last year. Most of the wines in this offer are exclusive to Corney & Barrow, so prices cannot be compared, but on this occasion they have been extraordinarily generous with reductions to Spectator readers. When
I look at the Sancerre 'Domaine du Nozay' at £6.57 (16.07 on the Brett-Smith Indulgence) against the C&B list price of £7.68, I blush. Perhaps I should explain the Brett-Smith Indulgence again. Londoners who order two cases or more, country dwel- lers who order three or more, can knock £6 off every case, or 50p a bottle. This Indul- gence extends also to the mixed case.
Anyway, now for the wines. Notre-Dame de Landiras , being the second wine of the Château de Landiras, Graves, is distin- guished for being made from 100 per cent semillon grapes, also for being made by an experimental Dane. Peter Vinding Diers is a great innovator, keeping vast quantities of unfermented must, heavily chilled, in a container in his garden in the belief that it produces greater concentration of fruit and flavour. This strikes me as a well concen- trated wine with the semillon taste of dry Sauternes, if that is not an oxymoron, fresher than usual from Australia and cer- tainly no more expensive at £5.38 the bottle (or £4.88 by the Indulgence). It has a slight prickle, which lightens what might have been quite a heavy taste and makes it suit- able as an aperitif, as well as with meals.
People will suspect me of gimmickry or showing off when they see a wine frong Canada, but this Hillebrand Chardonnay from the Niagara peninsula was discovered by Adam Brett-Smith, not by me, and is simply a top-class chardonnay at a very rea- sonable price (£6.55 or £6.05 under the dis- pensation). Less obviously colonial than some of the ripe Australians I have been pushing, there is nevertheless something almost debauched in the malty gorgeous- ness of the nose. Good acid at the end makes it one of the best value chardonnays I have seen for a long fillip. Finally, the Sancerre , which is utterly delicious. I am now on my fourth case since first tasting it in March. Most Sancerre is grabbed by the greedy Parisians, who upset the pricing, but £6.57 is a very good price for any Sancerre, £6.07 (discounted) is remarkable. For one of the best Sancerres I have ever tasted, it beggars belief. There is nothing sharp or harsh in this delicate and genial wine, no hint of the tomcat. It is lovely, soft and infinitely refreshing. The only danger is that a spell of hot weather might turn us all into dipsomaniacs. Unlike the Chardonnay, it is not the sort of wine which improves with keeping overnight.
The Chateau de Sours rosé has all the opposite qualities. A massive attack, a gigantic explosion of every fruit known to man, it in fact comes from the merlot grape, bled off within minutes of the must touching the skins and fermented very cold, very slowly. This wine is completely unlike any other I have tasted. Blind-tasted, it might be identified as some sort of sauvi- gnon blanc on super-boost. I have been told that one in a hundred people finds it utterly disgusting, but I have yet to meet such a one. Everybody I have given it to has raved about it. The 1990 was the first rosé I had recommended for six years. The 1991 has a slightly paler, less bilious colour but is, if anything, even better. It is, quite sim- ply, a marvellous wine, possibly the best rosé in the world, and will certainly double its present list price of £6.00 (our price £5.47, £4.97 discounted) when people start discovering it. It must be served chilled.
So now two reds --a. lightish claret, the Chateau Bel Air 1987" at £4.05 (£3.55 dis- counted) and a Provençal cabeTet-shiraz, the Domaine de Triennes 1990 at £5.00 (£4.50 discounted) made by two of the most famous winemakers in Burgundy, Aubert de Villaine (of the Domaine de la Romande Conti) and Jacques Seysses (of Domaine Dujac). One could be tremen- dously interesting about how 1987 is the most underrated vintage in the history of Bordeaux but the simple truth is that we have two good, fruity, nice 'n' easy reds at a very reasonable price which I do not hesi- tate to recommend. The Bel Air is made of 100 per cent cabernet franc which the Moueix brothers cleverly make to taste like merlot. The Triennes is richer and at the same time more leafy. Both are good, in fact %l the wines are good, but the ScAirs Rosé is a revelation and the Sancerre is a taste of summer heaven.
The mixed case works out at £5.50 the bottle, £5.00 discounted. This is very cheap, but I should take the plunge and order unmixed cases of the Sancerre and Sours. If anybody hates the Sours, I will personally undertake to buy back remaining bottles at the discounted price of £4.97 the bottle, delivered in London or Somerset. Nobody could possibly dislike the Sancerre.
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