SPECTATOR MINI-BAR OFFER Simon Hoggart
THIS is the last offer before Christmas, and it really is rather special. Robin Yapp, the famed wine merchant of Mere, is an old friend of Spectator readers. For this minibar we have put together a very special selection of wines from the Rhone. With a 10 per cent discount in place, and free delivery, they will make for exceedingly luxurious quaffing over the holidays. Two of the wines are quite exceptional value, and I urge you to snap them up before they go.
The Lirac Blanc 2000' is made from a wide variety of grapes, including a minimum of 30 per cent Clairette, which means that it has a delightfully different savour from that of less exotic whites. This is a lovely, firm yet silky wine, perfect with the smoked salmon, quite powerful enough to go with the turkey or goose. Reduced to under £7 a bottle.
Georges Vernay is one of the people who rescued the minuscule appellation of Condrieu, where on steep and dizzy slopes they make the finest and most sought-after whites in the whole of the Rhone. It's hard to find Condrieu at less than £25 a bottle, and you can pay up to £60 a bottle. The Viognicr grapes here, however, come from slopes just outside the appellation. M. Vernq could have had the line extended to include these properties, but he is so obsessed with quality that he refused. The result. Le Pied de Samson 2001'1', is a Condrieu in all but name — rich, perfumed, spicy and floral — for a mere £13. Unbeatable.
M. Vernay is also behind the other astonishing bargain. The label merely says 'Collines Rhodaniennes, Syrah 200 French wine laws are so strict that only a fixed amount of any wine can be made in a year. So, if there's an exceptional harvest, lots of first-rate grapes are orphaned, nameless, abandoned, looking for a good owner and careful drinker. This is overproduction from the fabled Cote-Rotie, the most celebrated of all Rhone reds. It is completely delicious and costs just over £7 a bottle.
Finally, Yapp's first-rate Chateauneuf-duPape, Domaine Chante Cigale, 1998('' is an excellent, powerful, scented wine which would perfectly complement Christmas dinner, or turn a Boxing Day lunch of cold ham and piccalilli into a feast.
You can buy all these wines by the dozen, or try the sample case of three each, discounted even further at £120. And you can take another 5 per cent off each case if you buy more than one.
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