SPECTATOR WINE CLUB
A treat for the young and poor
Auberon Waugh
It was ten years ago, in May 1984, that I first offered the (1977) Chateau Musar from the Lebanon. Since then I have offered it every year, seeing its fame spread inexorably. Although production is only some 20,000 cases, you can now buy it in the Corner Shop M Ann Arbor, Michigan. Inevitably, its price, too, has risen — from £4.25 for Spectator punters in 1984. This year, the 1987 2 — another magnificent vin- tage — will cost £7.53 to Spectator readers, very much cheaper than they will get it else- where. Regular Musar hands will recognise it as a splendid example. But there are peo- ple who enjoy their wine less if they have had to pay more than £7.50 for it4 have found a wonderful 1990 Tricastin from the southern Rhone, identified by a distin- guished Professor of Classics in Newcastle as the poor man's Musar. The rich may prefer it for everyday drinking; I am going to buy large quantities of both. The Musar is not only a beautiful, proud and memo- rable wine, it is now so famous that the young (and poor) regard it as a tremendous treat. To give these young people a real treat for £7.53 makes life mush easier. The Chateau Pierrail 1993" has a fresh, clean, cut-grass, herbaceous taste. Others found elderflowers there, but perhaps I was not looking. Perhaps overwhelmed by colo- nial chardonnay, I am growing keener on white bordeaux, which used to be a filthy, flaccid, oxidised drink but under new meth- ods of cold fermentation has become a seri- ously enjoyable morning beverage — much healthier than coffee. At £4.99 it is not led by the nose from New Zealand and is in any case a gentler, easier drink. Be sure the Macon Villages 1992(2) comes with a green or yellow-orange capsule over the cork. There is a greatly inferior version with white capsules from Delaunay. This one comes from Vinzelles (I have been told). Light and appley but pleasing at first taste; keep it corked but half-full in the fridge overnight and you have quite a beefy old white Burgundy next day — not a com- mon experience at £5.95.
Now we come to our first stupor inundi. In 1990 something exceptionally miracu- lous seems to have happened in the vine- yards of the Vergobbi brothers, who own the Domaine le Vieux Micocoulier on the verges of Tricastin". Mr Miller is emphatic that this is not a one-off freak, that these vines — 25 per cent syrah, 75 per cent grenache — are 40 years old; the secret of the extraordinary concentration is careful wine-making and low yield. I have never tasted anything like it, and, at £4.99, gather ye rosebuds. The wine should be opened two hours before drinking, and served at half a degree below room temperature, for solid joys and lasting pleasure.
Next, a more conventional offering. I have no idea how the 1993 Julienas Les
Envaux`‘) from Pelletier at £5.99 will shape up in the months and years to come. For drinking now it has immediate fullness, plenty of extract and good, soft fruit. Now we come to tAe main point. I have tasted the 1987 Musar five times, once when it was too cold, once in the company of people who had never tasted Musar before, again just opened, too cold, and with many dissimilar wines. They were confused by it. This wine must not be drunk cold. Perhaps it should be opened a day before drinking. Musar aficionados may recognise it as the best yet, but those who have doubts about Chateau Musar may be appalled by it. After years of wandering towards Pauillac, Serge Hochar has now raised his banner in southern Rh6ne. The first smell is highly vegetal, not African but a Rhone heavily polluted with sewage and dark rum. A friend who insists on using the word 'anal' to describe a peculiarly rich aroma in some heavily concentrated French reds makes it worse by suggesting that this Musar is redo- lent of the very best anuses. It is better than that. It is a Musar man's (or woman's) Musar, perhaps, but it is totally magnifi- cent. Rich, heavy (14 degrees), slightly sweet, bursting with fruit and alcohol and 4,000 years of bitter near-Eastern history, it is an experience which nobody should miss unless they can't afford £7.53. About one wine lover in ten will hate it, five out of ten will adore it. I find it a taste of heaven.
Fiully there is the Briatte Sauternes 1990 : very, very, very sweet. No noble rot in the taste, not much acid at the end, no hay, a touch of zest. Needs about 20 years, perhaps, to madeirise. The price of £12.99 is not unreasonable. It makes a useful addi- tion to the mixed case which, at £7.09 a bottle, is certainly one of the most interest- ing of (late. However, stocks of the Tricastin are not unlimited, and I would expect to see a nasty jump in the price of the Musar once Spectator punters have taken up the 200 or so cases allotted to them.
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