Wine of the Week
HAVE been making the acquaintance of some of the much-trumpeted 1959s, a' tasting given by Lebegti! of a wide range of clarets and some of the noblot burgundies, red and white, Whether 1959 will be the 'year of the century that some people were calling it, before even the grapes were gathered, is still to be seen, but there is no doubt that there will be some handsonle wines of the vintage. The clarets, of course, still seem very hard and astringent to the laymahs palate (such as mine) but experts at the tasting spoke highly of the bourgeois growths generallY, and it seems that among the classified growths the Montrose and the Calon-Segur will be worth looking out for—to put down—when they reach wine-merchants here, probably in the autunill of next year. But they will be dearer than the 1955s, because so much too much fuss has been made about the 1959s already. It is to be hopei that the trade in Britain will not be stampeded by eager customers into buying them before see' ing whether 1960 will be a good year, too, which would stabilise prices. The simpler white wines, such as are dna( young and fresh, are already in the shops, fcte the summer of 1959 permitted early gatherin% and bottling. The Vintner, in Kensington Church Street, is offering a burgundy aligote and a bur' gundy rosé, both at 8s., and I have already dna( and much enjoyed Hedges and Butler's 199 Muscadet—a Château de la Bidiere at 8s. 9d.
CYRIL RAI'
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