SPECTATOR WINE CLUB
A really cheap pleasure
Auberon Waugh
This offer comes, in fact, from our old friends Hedley Wright, of Bishops Stort- ford, but for reasons which I only partially understand, it is being handled by the excellent Colchester firm of Lay & Wheel- er — from whose own wares we may well be able to arrange an offer next year. One of the most encouraging things is that, whereas we tasted more than 20 new wines from the Hedley Wright list, we came back time and again to the same wines (although of different vintages) we have chosen in previous years. The only great innovation this time is the sherry'"'. I have never tried Spectator readers with sherry before and fear the worst — they have an inexplicable resistance to port. I am an only occasional sherry drinker myself, but have recently taken to buying sherry by the case for three reasons: 1) you drink far more of it, surely a good thing; 2) you like it more and more; 3) a case seems to last for ever. This Argue- so manzanilla olorosa from Sanlucar also strikes me as being exceptionally delicious. It is a really cheap pleasure at £5.95 the bottle when you think how much less you drink, how much smaller the glasses etc.
The Villa Montes Sauvignon Blanc()) of this year, from Curico, in Chile, is wonder- fully easy to drink in very large quantities indeed. This wine has a proper, light sauvi- gnon smell and a French rather than a New Zealand taste, clean and fruity in the grass, with just the tiniest touch of peach or honey to take away the hint of austerity which is so out of place in wine drunk as an aperitif. At a healthy 12 per cent vol. and £4.75 the bottle, this wine should be seen as a thirst-quencher as well as a lovely taste in the mouth, and possibly an aid to sexual self-confidence, sensible driving etc.
Next a chardonnay from the Loire. Nearly all the wines in this offer are some- how off-centre, but the best bargains are usually to be found in this way. One buys one's white burgundy, as it were, from the Loire, one's claret and white bordeaux from Chile. This chardonnay comes in a pretty, dignified bottle, and at £5.80 it pro- vides a richer chardonnay experience than you will easily find for £9 from anywhere within 35 miles of Beaune. It kept very well, after opening, for nearly a week in the fridge, ending up delicious and fruity with- out a touch of flab.
Next the reds, and the miraculous Cuvee de Champfleuryo) at its laughable price of
£3.95 the bottle. This brilliant wine from Nathaniel Johnston & fils never fails to provide the claret taste — clean, pure and good without the faintest touch of right- bank merlot richness or rats' tails such as we get in abundance from the other John- ston's equally brilliant Domaine de Sours. Sometimes one finds oneself growing spoiled and snobbish and turning up one's nose at cheaper wines, but I do not see how I would ever tire of this one. All we know is that it comes from the Gironde, and has no right to an appellation or a vintage, but it might equally well represent the pure, free spirit of the medoc. It is cabernet sauvignon as only the French have ever been able to treat it: cheerful, clean, unencumbered by anything except the desire to please.
The Villa Montes Cabernet Sauvignon 1991o) is slightly more dicy. In previous years this wine — heavier, and at 12 per cent vol. slightly more alcoholic than the Champ- fleury, fuller, deeper, stronger — has turned into an amazing bordeaux-substitute bar- gain. At present (on the panel's third tast- ing) it is not only thicker but also harder. At £4.75 — only 80p more than the Champ- fleury — it might prove an inspired invest- ment in three months' time, but for imme- diate gulping and guaranteed pleasure I would go for the Champfleury at £3.95.
Finally, in the cabernet class, I always feel I have to apologise for asking £8 for a Chilean or other colonial example. So far we have had the 1987 Montes Alpha caber- net sauvignon, which was very well received. The 1989 has the same beautiful garnet-brick colour, and the same lovely taste of cedarwood which has become a hallmark of expensive southern hemisphere cabernets. It is not as heavy as the 1987, however, nor as oppressively deep. Taken in conjunction with Parker's beautiful Terra Rossa cabernet from Coonawarra in the last Corney & Barrow offer, I think it may mark the birth of a new awareness of the virtues of modesty among wine-makers in the former colonies. They no longer have to shout about their wines. They can speak for themselves. This wine does not seem to have an immense amount of tannin holding it together, and should, I suspect, be drunk soonish, but it is a very pleasant experience.
I have already said most about the sherry offer'6'. This manzanilla olorosa is as pale as a fino, with perhaps a touch of the saltiness sometimes associated with Sanlucar. It is dry but full of taste — proper sherry taste of nuts and almonds — and I think it is a winner at £5.95 by the case. Those who order the sample case) (which works out at £5.53 the bottle) can decide for themselves.
I would have thought that a case of the Champfleury and a case of the manzanilla would be enough to set anyone up, but plu- tocrats should not miss the Montes Alpha and everybody will like the two whites.
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