SPECTATOR WINE CLUB
Embarras de richesse
Auberon Waugh
Al French this time. Let nobody scoff at differences between vintages in France. Four of the wines have been offered previously, but, where the vintage has changed, they are completely different wines. They are also, with one exception, cheaper. It is only the £11.99 which it will cost to buy this month's mystery wine, the non-existent Château Beauvillars(6), which upsets the cost of the sample case. More about this later. Please note that all prices have been seriously reduced; the difference between these prices and Corney's list prices is stupendous, and when the Brett-Smith Indulgence is brought to play, of £6 a case, or 50p off every bottle in an order of two cases or more (in London), three cases or more (outside London), then it becomes positively embarrassing.
Firstly, a new discovery. This chardon- nay(1) from the deepest south belongs to a year which, like 1989, seems to have pro- duced nothing but brilliant whites. Although richer and creamier than any white bur- gundy in the £6.50-7.50 bracket, this south- ern cousin at £4.49 (L3.99 on the Indul- gence) has none of the faroucheness or nois- mess of a colonial interloper, but is a seri- ously well-balanced, bright and sparky offer- ing. It brings a message of hope to the impoverished English, as we get poorer and poorer: the wine we drink in our decline will be better than anything our parents drank.
Those who remember the wonderfully ripe 1992 Combe de Grinou from Bergerac may recognise its pretty younger sister in the 1993 version(2), offered at £4.99 (or £4.49 on the Indulgence). But if I were the husband of this child's mother I might be worried about its parentage. It could scarcely be more different from that louche 1992: razor-sharp sauvignon taste (in fact it is 50 per cent semillon) with plumper development, it is a lovely, clean wine but entirely different from its predecessor. It replaced the 1992 in the Academy Club about a month ago. Those who noticed the difference seem well enough pleased.
Next, the Sancerre Domaine du Nozay at £7.89 (17.39 on the Indulgence), of which we first offered the extraordinary 1989 to an unbelieving world which denied it could possibly be a sancerre, and the 1992 last October at £7.95 with the warning that it smelled of hot candle-wax. The 1993 is an altogether more conventional sancerre, with good acid balance and much greater length than the Bergerac(2). It is the sort of wine which Frenchmen fall over each other to drink in the bars of Paris, but I feel it might well improve and spread itself with a little cellaring. The Château de Sours Rose(4) has come down a few bob since I offered the 1992 last October. It is no good pretending that the 1992 or '93 vintage had the amazing surprise quality of the '91, but on the strength of the '91 a number of punters developed a taste
for pink claret which is not easy to satisfy, and seldom so happily as with this merlot- based beverage at £6.05 (or £5.55).
We had some difficulty finding a good red cheapie to follow the magnificent 1990 minor clarets. Eventually, after much delib- eration, we settled on exactly the same wine, same year, as I offered last October, the 1992 Domaine de Plaisance(5). The only thing that has changed is that it has come down nearly £5, and can be offered at the scarcely believ- able rates of £3.99 for the stingy punter, £3.49 for the mighty. It is made chiefly from the cot or malbec grape and is a miracle of geniality. Last time I offered it I said it had made me want to laugh: It is very agreeable to drink . . . but I won- dered initially if it was not a bit too light and playful for people of my age. Pale — almost pink — it has no tannin, but a good rich smell of mulberries or plums, a hint of sweet tobac- co . . . What is remarkable about this ripe, inexpensive wine is its purity.
I would now add that it is utterly delicious slightly chilled as a summer luncheon wine.
Finally, the mystery wine. How dare Cor- ney & Barrow ask £11.99 for an unknown (probably non-existent) château in a rotten year(6)? The answer is that this is the first time that Trotanoy has produced a second wine. They decided that the 1991 vintage was not good enough to be called Trotanoy, but much too good to be sold as generic pomerol. The result is a wine (Convey is asking £13.92 in the first instance) which is a mouthful of the most opulent pomerol you can imagine. Robert Parker puts Trotanoy second to Petrus in the pomerol litany.
The sample case(7) works out at £6.57 the bottle. The Beauvillars would alone make it a fascinating adventure.
Previous page
