28 MAY 1983, Page 41

Special offer

Spectator Wine Club

Auberon Waugh

After last month's slightly uninspiring offer of Italian cheapies we are back to the Burgundy region where my own heart belongs and where, I should say, our sup- pliers are the best in the country. Reasonably priced white burgundies are very hard to find and it is my experience that one does as well from the multiple chain suppliers as anywhere else. Peter Dominic has an excellent Meursault Charmes and Victoria Wines sells Paul Jadot's house white, called Clos des Jacobins, both of which are hard to beat. I offer Henri Laroche's white wine from the Chablis region — it is excluded from the Chablis appellation contriilee by virtue of coming from newly planted Chardonnay vines — because its quality seems to surpass both its description and its price of £3.60. The irritating thing about serving a good wine in a Win de Table' bottle is that your guests will suppose you are palming them off with something from the grocer. I would really recommend this wine only to serious wine drinkers who will appreciate that while it cannot be compared to the best Chablis it is a great deal better than much of the stuff which is sold quite properly under that label. To a nation which is used to be- ing sold filthy stuff described as Chablis there may be a certain poignancy in now having to buy much better wine under a Vin de Table' label. This objection does not apply to the 1978 St Vincent Monopole, which has full Burgundy appellation contrOlee. Burgun- dians will know that there is no commune, area or classified vineyard called St Vincent Monopole and that it is a house wine, but Burgundians will fall off their chairs in amazement at this burgundy which stands comparison with the best and most expen- sive premier cru I have yet tasted from this superlative vintage. Everyone else will sup- pose it is a famous classified vineyard they have never heard of. I can't reveal its exact provenance but would not be surprised if someone told me it had fallen off the back of a lorry in Chambolle Musigny, Morey St Denis, Nuits St Georges or any of the great centres. We tasted it at the same time as the Nuits St Georges Les St Georges 1972 and another, far more expensive grand cru from my own cellar, and it stood up amazingly well — to such an extent that guests were confusing them by the end of the meal. I think this is easily the best bargain in French wines I have yet found — a superb burgundy with a breathtakingly expensive taste. It is a very young wine and will ob- viously keep for years and years, although I find it hard to imagine exactly how it will improve — the acid and tannin have disap- peared with fruit on top but it has none of the surplus sweetness which sometimes caramelises into the 'old burgundy' taste. Perhaps a little extra smoothness will come

with age, but I am not sure it is worth waiting for. It is powerful, deep and unbelievably lovely at £3.98.

I throw in an.extra 'Golden Oldie' in the shape of this French-bottled 1972 Nuits St Georges Les St Georges in response to com- plaints from members that they do not like buying mixed cases. It is the only one I could find in sufficient quantity for a separate offer. My earlier feeling about it was that although it is as full and rich as you would expect — and it comes in a very grand bottle indeed — it still has a faint touch of the 1972 acidity which prevents it from achieving the perfection of balance one looks for in an expensive burgundy. After ten years I doubt if it will ever lose this imperfection. It is still a magnificent wine, and will probably find greater favour with wine snobs than the beautiful Bristol- bottled 1969 Roncieres, but so far as my own purchasing plans are concerned I can- not quite accept that it is worth £5 a bottle more than the lovely St Vincent Monopole. Snobs are advised to go for the Les St Georges, gluttons for the St Vincent Monopole. Rich gluttons can make up their own minds. I suppose that if I were eating a heavy meal alone I might prefer the older wine but it would not be an easy choice. 1 think I would keep it to impress guests. The St Vincent Monopole (also French-bottled) provides a more private glimpse of heaven.