SPECTATOR WINE CLUB
A last dip into the honeypot
Auberon Waugh
s a result of a slight contretemps over Corney and Barrow's delivery charges, the prices quoted, which are for single-case deliveries, may not seem as cheap as they undoubtedly are for orders of two or more cases (in London) or three cases (elsewhere), where the discounted price knocks off 50p a bottle across the board, reducing the Puget Cabernet Sauvignon(3), for instance, to £2.75 a bot- tle, and the miraculous Pokolbin Chardonnay(2) to under £6. If this looks like an attempt to bully people into buying more wine than they want, I can only apologise, but it seemed better to give some people the chance of buying at these spectacularly low prices than to make everyone suffer. The sampling case(7) is, of course, counted in the total order; so far as securing the discount is concerned.
I warned that 1989 was likely to emerge as the year of Chilean wine, ever since the Australian dollar started to get ideas above its station, and Australian grape-growers began to jack up their prices. So far I have not found a Chilean chardonnay which compares with its Australian or Californian equivalents, but this Fume Blanc(1) — as the sauvignon blanc grape is called after it has been put in oak — struck me as, a very decent wine at under £4 — even better, of course, with 50p knocked off for the discounted price. It is less aggressively characteristic of the grape than much cold-fermented sauvignon, all crushed net- tles and gooseberry leaves. The bottle I tried seemed to have a faint suggestion of eucalyptus, but perhaps the glass had previously been used by a Vick addict. It seemed an agreeable addition, but one had better not shout about it or the Italians will start pouring Vick into everything.
Perhaps I had better deal with the other two Chilean wines next. Chile has never been visited by the scourge of phylloxera. This seems to make a genuine difference with the reds, as those who have tried the Linderos Cabernet Sauvignon will testify. The Santa Helena Merlotti) is an obviously superior wine at the same price as the Fume Blanc, with none of the rats' tails effect you get with young French merlot. It has an amazingly full nose with traces of stalk (none of Vick), lovely deep colour and pleasant, easily accessible taste. It is a bargain at £3.98, a gift at £3.48.
The Santa Helena Cabernet Sauvignon, directors' selectionts), with an extra five years' bottle age is a very smooth and creamy item. One can well understand why the Chilean directors go for it. If it came from California, it would cost at least £2 more than its price of £4.20 to the single- case punter, let alone the discounted price of £3.70. It has no hairy edges — a very proper and amazingly rich cabernet to find anywhere near this price. Since the order has gone to pot, I might as well deal with the French meridional cabernet sauvignon, Domaine du Puget(3) next. At £3.25 the bottle (£2.75 dis- counted), this is the cheapest wine I have offered for ages. It is a hot climatic, jammy wine with a good herbal nose and a taste to match. By 'herbal' in this context I am talking about thyme and marjoram, rather than grass. It is an important discovery for which Corney and Barrow should be con- gratulated, and will sell like hot cakes among those who enjoy wine even more for knowing how cheap it is.
Now, the wine for serious wine-drinkers. Some may remember last year's 1987 Pokolbin Chardonnay from Hungerford Hill(2). They will spit in my face if I say the 1988 is even better, but it is, it is. No doubt it will open out further in the next six or twelve months, but I defy anyone to keep it that long. It is utterly delicious now, a wonderful wine, full of honey and melons and buttery delights which sing of chardon- nay in five or six different voices. It is unbelievable value at the single case price of £6.45, and at the discounted price of £5.95 I can confidently say that we will never see its like again. It is only thanks to the great kindness of Corney and Barrow — and in response to my remorseless enthusiasm — that we are being allowed this last dip into the honeypot.
Finally, in the crazy order we seem to have adopted, a red French burgundy(6) at just £4.40 (£3.90 discounted). Obviously at this price it is an 'assembled' wine, but none the worse for that. I should judge it needs keeping for a year or two, but it has a proper burgundy taste and much greater concentration of fruit, tannin and acid than one would expect at this price. It will never be a great burgundy but it should be a very pleasant one, and how many of us will be able to afford even a humble village Chalonnais in two or three years' time?
The mixed case works out at £4.66 the bottle (£4.16 discounted).
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