SPECTATOR WINE CLUB
Trying to keep prices down
Auberon Waugh
My feelings about the 1988 Rose- mount Show Reserve Chardonnay()) have swung violently backwards and forwards since first tasting what must have been a cask sample in the Hunter Valley two years ago. Then I thought it nectar. When it was landed in England I found it had gone dumb and one-dimensional, with that card- board taste which all expensive Australian chardonnays acquire from over-oaking. Now it is filling out again. I think it will be a better wine than the 1986, which we have all been drinking up to now, and which inspired the great Robert Parker, as I remember, to a five-star award — practi- cally the only one he gave in the whole of Australia. In fact I like everything about this 1988 Show Reserve except the price of £7.45, which strikes me as baneful further evidence of the colonials getting above themselves. However, we must remember that it is one of Australia's premium wines, which has become internationally famous.
Prices have been my chief concern in this offer. All the wines have been seen before in previous vintages. In fact they are all old favourites. At first I was enraged by the increased prices, but careful enquiry re- vealed that they are still reasonable when compared to everyone else. What is parti- cularly annoying is that some wine mer- chants still have them listed at the earlier prices. This is particularly true of the three Musars. It is only when you enquire that you discover they are either out of stock, or subject to a catastrophic price increase.
However, I don't think £5.68 is too much to pay for a truly excellent Julienas (2). Both the 1988 and 1989 were brilliant, but this 1989 from the Domaine Andre Pelle- tier strikes me as being as good as any Beaujolais I have ever drunk — bursting with fruit, elegance and sophisticated joie de vivre. Not a hint of stalk in it — all pure, unbounded fruit and joy. It is a lovely wine, which should be bought by everyone who is in danger of forgetting how wonder- ful the best Beaujolais can be.
When I started offering Château Cheret Pitres (3) through this club, it was unmis- takably a bargain. Those who knew their grands crus exceptionels of Graves already knew it, but to me it was a discovery. Now, at £7.38 the bottle for an exceptionally brilliant year, it is still a bargain by the standards of Bordeaux, but £7.38 is still £7.38 and I wish it could be cheaper. It is rich, smoky, still a trifle stalky but with sewerish pleasures beginning to appear on the nose which promise five or ten years of really magnificent prime coming up very shortly. One must never forget in all the hideous prices asked for the crus classes, that Bordeaux make beautiful wine, and with a bit of an effort one can still buy first class Bordeaux which is (just) affordable. Now for the three Musars. I had hoped to introduce the 1983, about which I hear wonderful things, but circumstances in the Lebanon mean that it will not be here until the autumn. I do not know what the price will be, but I rather fear the worst, as the Americans are beginning to learn about it. But there can be no question of doubt that at present Château Musar offers the best value, in terms of quality for money, of any red wine in the world. The only snag is that some women don't like it. I can't explain why. Most adore it. We serve the 1981 in the Academy Club with meals at £4.50 the half-bottle and the chorus of praise is deafening. Let me run through the three vintages on offer once again. I rather pooh-poohed the 1982(4) on its first appearance, as being slightly paler and thinner than its predecessors but the second shipment has proved much better. In the event, it is the most Southern Rh6nish of the three, like a highly concen- trated, first-class new-style Chateauneuf du Pape from a good year — let us say a Vieux Telegraphe 1978 — and given away at £5.33.
The 1981(5) might be compared to a Latour 1979 with a touch of cinsault thrown in. If this sounds precious or affected, or somehow improper, I can only repeat that it is a first-class wine, and that if snobbery or conditioned expectation were removed form the business of wine judg- ing, it would be right up there with the best, lacking only the element of complex- ity to keep it from being among the truly greats. At £5.81 it is a revelation. The Musar 1980(6) might be seen as a rich, full, fat Bordeaux of deuxieme cru standard, not quite as good as the very best, but noticeably better than some and without the faintest touch of impropriety in its make-up. At £6.05 — considerably cheaper than the Cheret-Pitres which is itself a bargain by Bordeaux standards — it makes nonsense of the entire pricing struc- ture of cabernet wines in Europe. All of which might be interpreted as an invitation to Monsieur Hochar to raise his prices extravagantly. I hope he doesn't. Then we would have to move to Spain, South Africa and Chile for the equivalent richness of taste, taking it further in each case from its classic origins. The mixed case works out at £6.45 the bottle, which is not cheap, but then these are all first-class wines and all, except for the Rosemount and the Cheret-Pitres, in their prime for immediate drinking.
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