SPECTATOR WINE CLUB

Gift from the Greeks

Auberon Waugh

The average price on the sample case of £5.51 the bottle shows a slight increase on Smedley's offer of last June, but this is almost entirely explained by the wondrous dry Madeira at £7.98(6), which came as a revelation to me and may change the lives of us all. There is also a most unusual Greek red at the eccentric price of £6.41 to mess up the average. People will want to taste the Semeli Nemea in the sample case before ordering it, I imagine. It is the first Greek red the Wine Club has ever offered, and I must admit I never imagined I would do such a thing. The other four are conven- tionally excellent wines at very good prices delivered. Smedley offers £1.40 a case off orders for two cases or more, but I did not judge it a sufficiently generous concession to make a feature of it on the order form. That nice Mr Brett-Smith in London knocks off £6 a case, we may remember. Alert punters can knock off their own £1.40 or not, as they choose. As I say, we have excellent wines at very good prices, already much reduced.

These Chilean whites are so good that I find I am embarrassed to offer any other white wines at all. Why bother with adjec- tives? The Chardonnay(1) at £4.93 is full, powerful, with a slight prickle when tasted, nothing oily or flat, classic non-Burgundian chardonnay, excellently refreshing, as is the Montes Fume Blanc at £5.15 — strong (13.5 per cent by vol!), original and proud. Both are perfect as aperitifs, or with smoked fish etc.

Our first red, the Seigneurial(3), bottled in the cellars of the Archbishop of Nar- bonne (or so they claim), is, at £3.98, exact- ly the sort of wine of which everybody should take two glasses daily for medicinal reasons before moving to anything more serious. Good smell, slightly more body (i.e. sweetness) than most vins de table, at 12 per cent by volume it should also be given to children to keep them off alcopops.

The Corbieres(4) at £4.62 is a more con- centrated, slightly more serious wine, ideal

`It's our battlebus.'

for paupers celebrating. It is certainly not serious enough to cause depression. A sweet 'n' easy slurper by the standards of the serious wine drinker, but thoroughly to be recommended. I will be ordering some for private drinking.

The Greek curiosity called Semeli Nemea(5) comes from Anne and George Kokotos in Attica. It is a very smooth, high- class, sweetish red with no tannin, better with black olives than green ones, for drinking far into the night when other wines turn thin and sour. It would have driven Byron and Shelley mad with excite- ment. I still think Mr Kokotos has a bit of a nerve asking £6.41 for it, when Greek reds do not enjoy a good reputation. No doubt it has a small but faithful following among Hellenophiles in this country — not all of whom are suppressed homosexuals nowa- days. I can see the new breed of young expatriate nymphomaniacs taking very kindly to it if they can find anyone to buy it for them.

The Henriques dry Madeira(6) came, as I say, as a complete revelation to the entire panel. I had no idea dry Madeira could be so good — infinitely better than any 'dry' white port ever made, and surprisingly cheap at £7.98 for its 19 per cent alcohol by volume. It is utterly delicious, never cloys, to be drunk all day and every day as a final solution to the great problem of what to drink between mealtimes, guaranteed to keep you in a state of benign content. I think the Spectator Wine Club may have achieved what all these politicians have been banging on about for 50 years.

ORDER FORM SPECTATOR WINE CLUB

c/o Smedley Vintners Rectory Cottage, Lilley, Luton, Beds, LU2 8LU Tel: (01462) 768214 Fax: (01462) 768332

Price No. Value White 1. Cornelia= Chardonnay 1996,

Vina La Rasa, Chile 12 Bots £59.16 2. Monies Fume Blanc 1994

Curico, Chile 12 Bots £61.80 Red 3. Seigneurial yin de table Francais 12 Boss £47.76

Domaine de Saint Rome, 1995, Carbines 12 Bots £55.44

Nemea 1994, Semeli, Greece 12 Bots £76.92 Madeira 6. Monte Seco, Henriques &

Henriques 12 Bots £95.76 Mixed 7. Sample case, two of each 12 Bois £66.14

TOTAL (Cheque enclosed)

Please send wine to: NAME ADDRESS Own name & address, if different: NAME ADDRESS POSTCODE POSTCODE TELEPHONE TELEPHONE ACCESS/VISA NO EXPIRY DATE SIGNATURE Prices include VAT and delivery on the British mainland. Payment should be made either by cheque, with the order, payable to Spectator Wine Club or by Access/Visa, details of which may be telephoned or faxed. This offer, which is subject to availability, closes on 30 May 1997.