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Auberon Waugh

'Those punters who, like me, invested

I heavily in the 1982 Château Pichon Longueville Baron offer nearly two years ago will be relieved to have heard from Price-Beech that the wine has now arrived in England. Unless Price-Beech suddenly vanishes, having received our further cheques, to reappear in Brazil under a changed name, we will have done very well indeed, having paid a total of £93.50 incl. VAT for a delivered case of a wine which has been receiving a rapturous press, put- ting it very nearly alongside its glamorous sister, Pichon Longueville Lalande (£330 the case at Sotheby's for the '82) at the very top of the Pauillac league. I would be most surprised if anyone can find the Baron anywhere now for less than £153 the case delivered, and even that price is likely to go through the roof as news of its quality spreads. Our great success in this admitted- ly unfamiliar field emboldens me to offer the Château Dassault range from St Emi- lion which also seems to me (with one exception) tremendously underpriced. Château Dassault, which is beginning to appear in many of the grandest restaurant wine-lists, has just received a rave review in Decanter written by the great Bordeaux expert Clive Coates, who reckons it among the leading contenders for inclusion in the premiers crus of St Emilion.

But first, some cheaper wines. I last offered Franco Amici Grossi's Chianti Putto (1) as a wine for those who enjoy drinking in large quantities, and punters responded with such enthusiasm that re- orders outstripped initial orders in the duration of the offer. It is everything that a good, sound Chianti should be, and as such it is brilliant for drinking out of doors, when the second bottle always tastes even better than the first. At £2.50 the bottle delivered I cannot fault it.

It is joined this time by its little white sister (2). Those who do not know what white Tuscan wine tastes like should learn that it is a strong, dry wine with very little acid, uniquely excellent for drinking with soda, which often turns acid into some- thing quite nasty. I do not recommend it with soda in order to disparage it, but because many of us drink white wine with soda in the summer months and it is my experience that grapes which are fruitier like Chardonnay — or crisper — like Sauvignon — are not nearly so good. Drunk by itself it is a sound, strong, uncomplicated dry white which curiously enough excited great enthusiasm among my womenfolk, and children, languishing on a diet of delicious white 1983 Macon- nais. Incidentally the Sigg. Amici Grossi are so enamoured of us that they have asked me to offer a three-bedroom Tuscan farmhouse to any reader who wants to rent it this summer with ten litres of Chianti thrown in. It costs £160-n00 per week. Details from Cohn Price-Beech Esquire at Recount Wines.

Principesa Pignatelli's 1978 Ghianto Classico Riserva from Castel!' in Villa (3) excited a huge enthusiasm last time round Countless punters ,confirmed my opinion that it is a serious wine for serious wine drinkers, and its price of £4.41 the bottle puts it into the Great Discovery class.

Now for the Château Dassault. First, I should warn that there are only 50 cases of each available, and punters would be well advised to get their orders off as soon as possible, especially if they are after the '79 or the '82.

I include the '75 (4) in deference to the opinion of Clive Coates, rather than my own. He raved about it in Decanter: 'full, cedar-woody, balanced and plump in fruit. A fine wine showing the spices and com- plexity of a ripe ready-to-drink vintage. The wine will still improve.' Personally I

felt it needed quite a few more years, and that at very nearly £14 a bottle for a wine which was virtually unheard of 35 years ago — before Marcel Dassault, the aeroplane tycoon, bought the Château and started spending millions on it — one can scarcely call it underpriced.

Whether I was influenced or not by the huge disparity in price is something known only to God, but I actually preferred the 1979 (5), which is now definitely entering a glorious prime. A beautiful Merlot smell.

masses of fruit, a really heavy but excellent wine which will keep for ever and go on improving for at least six years. This was a wonderful year in St Emilion and Pomerol, even if most of it has already been drunk by the Americans.

The 1980 (6) is a much more forward wine for drinking now. Its first impression is of a light blackcurrant cordial — over- whelming fruit, very little acid, no tannin at all, but in its middle taste it seems exquisitely smooth and polished and it ends as a very pleasant drink experience. At £7.08 the bottle it is the most accessible of them all for immediate drinking and should not be despised for its comparative lack of depth.

The '82 (7) is a totally different proposi- tion. I found it surprisingly forward for its

year, but Clive Coates, who described it as 'solid, ample, firm and rich, good even by 1982 standards' thinks it needs another six years. My own guess is that anyone who

can keep it as long as that will find that its reputation — backed by the Sud Aviation millions — will have grown out of all proportion in that time. They will be serving a much grander wine than the one they bought. I am simply not qualified to judge whether it will eventually make a better bottle than the 1979, as everybody seems to think; the overall concentration may be greater, although certain areas still

seem slightly dumb and closed up — but 1 am sure it will end more highly regarded by the cognoscenti and therefore more expen- sive. If one bought two cases at £106 one might be able to sell one for twice the price

in four or five years' time and drink the

other for nothing. That is how at least one Cambridge college keeps its Senior Com- mon Room stocked in Châteaux Lafite and Mouton Rothschild, although personally 1 would never agree to sell anything.