SIMON HOGGART
Private Cellar is a new company specialising in delightful, unusual, outof-the-way wines of quality.
We ran a mini-bar offer with them last year, and it went extremely well, as it should, because the wines were delicious.
This one is called Hidden Treasures, since I doubt that you’ve tried any of these bottles before. I am, however, certain that you’ll want to try them again.
Take the white Burgundy from Vézelay, the Domaine Camu Frères 20031.Vézelay is best known for its cathedral (I remember visiting it as a boy, when the Son et Lumière announced, resonantly if improbably, ‘Ah, Vézelay, centre du monde!’) but this wine is a wonderful surprise, less sophisticated than the great names of the region, but plump, fruity, buttery and smooth. A lovely wine, and quite remarkable value at £7.55.
Soave is a wine usually served in the kind of Italian restaurant where the pepper mill is half the height of Nelson’s Column. It is usually thin and pale, and its chief virtue is that its lack of flavour means that it doesn’t mask the taste of the food, even if you wish it did. So this Soave Classico Motto Piane 20052 will come as an astonishing revelation. It is sumptuous. It tastes of rich, intense, ripe fruit. It lingers happily on the palate, yet is absolutely dry. A fabulous wine, and — you must believe me — tremendous value for just £8.55. The bad news is that production is continuing and it won’t be delivered until the end of the month. It is, I assure you, very well worth waiting for, and there is probably enough of the previous vintage to supply the mixed cases straight away. Very thoroughly recommended.
I had to offer the Sasso Arso, Villa Bizzarri, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 20033 if only because of its name. But lovers of excellent Italian wines will know just what to expect: cherries, berries, plums, smoke and cedars. A lovely wine that will whisk you back to Italy in the scorching summer of 2003 even while British sleet pelts your windows. Only £6.45.
Finally, as part of my continuing quest for a good-value claret — so rare, I fear — I’m very pleased indeed to offer this Ch. Cap de Haut 20014, from the Haut-Médoc. Three years ago this was promoted to a cru bourgeois, just one stage down from the grands crus classés. It is soft and rounded, with a long finish, and will continue to improve for some years.
Delivery, as ever, is free. There is a sample case containing three bottles of each wine and a further discount of £4 per case for orders of 36 bottles or more. D
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