SPECTATOR WINE CLUB

Take my word for it

Auberon Waugh

This may not be the cheapest offer we have ever had, averaging out at £5.81 a bottle on the sample case, or £5.31 on the Brett-Smith indulgence for orders of two cases or more in London, three or more elsewhere. But four of the wines are superb, a fifth (the Bel Air) is a• magnifi- cent bargain, and, most welcome of all, we seem to have defeated the French curse of the decade which forces the trade to offer wine from four poor vintages — 1991, 1992 (except white Bordeaux), 1993 and even, in patches, 1994 — at prices inflated by the collapsing pound and by Mr

Clarke's genocidal war against wine- drinkers.

ORDER FORM SPECTATOR WINE CLUB

cio Corney & Barrow Ltd 12 Helmet Row, London EC1V 3QJ. Tel: (0171) 2514051 Fax: (0171) 608 1373

Price No. Value White

Château Grossombre, Entre Deux

Mers, 1994** 12 Boss. £70.80

Notre-Dame de Landiras, Bordeaux 1992** 12 Bois £75.00 Rosé 3. Chateau de Sours, 1994. 12 Bogs. £73.32 Red 4. Dominio La Slope, 190, Bodega Cirbonera 12 Bogs. £49.80

Château Bel Air, Bordeaux, 1992" 12 Bots. .652.40

Château de Lamarque, Cm

Bourgeois, Haut Medoc, 1991** 12 Bois. £87.00 Mixed 7. Sample case — two bottles of each 12 Bois. £69.72 Sub total LESS volume allowance

TOTAL (Cheque enclosed)

* On London orders of two cases or more, and orders of three cases or more, outside London, subtract 16 per case.

** Corney & Barrow exclusivities.

Please send wine to: NAME ADDRESS POSTCODE TELEPHONE Prices include VAT and delivery anywhere on the British mainland. Cheques should be made payable to the Spectator Wine Club. Payment with orders, please. Orders giving Visa or Access number may be faxed or telephoned. This offer, which is subject to availability, closes on 31 July 1995.

ACCESS/VISA NO.

SIGNATURE EXPIRY DATE

We have cracked it by the simple system of finding some exceptional wines in the rotten years and savagely reducing the prices. The reductions here, even without the Brett-Smith indulgence, are quite extraordinary. And all the wines, with the possible exception of a controversial Spaniard, are winners.

The first three wines — two whites and a rosé — are all, in their separate ways, superb. First, the Grossombre 1994(1) at £5.90 the bottle (£5.40 discounted) may tell you nothing about itself from its label, but in combination with the Notre-Dame de Landiras(2) it provides an almost complete education in the dry white wines of Bor- deaux. Most of these are made from a mix- ture of sauvignon and semillon grapes. The Grossombre is 100 per cent sauvignon, the Landiras (at £6.25, or £5.75 discounted) is 100 per cent semillon. Both are supremely good examples of their grape — as good, I would say, as the French can be with either, although there are some who prefer the gentler sauvignon characteristics of the Loire.

The Grossombre 1994(1) is a freak wine, technically correct but with searing fresh gooseberry eventually becoming swamped in a variety of underplayed tropical fruits. The final impression is a marvellously clean sauvignon. Similarly with the Landiras 1992(2), produced by the enigmatic Dane, Vinding-Diers, whom I hope to meet one day. This has the air of a seriously good wine even before one has pulled the cork. Dry mango on the nose confirms it, but the pure, rich taste — peachy, with a dash of lemon — will persuade the dullest drinker that this is more than a pleasant drinking experience. Like the Grossombre, it is an education.

The third wine(3) may meet a certain amount of resistance from those who, despite my veiled warnings, bought the Château de Sours Rosé 1993. The first year's production, in 1991, was totally bril- liant, the best rosé Bordeaux most of us had ever tasted, made from the early bleed- ing of a merlot vintage. Next year's was all right, 1993 was frankly dull.

The 1994, I am happy to say, is right back to the 1991, an excellent, vital, strong wine, good with cigarettes as an aperitif with the wonderful bready, yeasty taste of a young wine cut through with Ribena. Words fail me. Punters will simply have to take my word for it that this is a seriously delicious wine, as good as if not better than the miraculous 1991, and they will not be able to get it anywhere cheaper than £6.11 (already reduced from £7.19), let alone the discounted price of £5.61. Everybody, even those who think they dislike rosé, should buy at least one case of this amazing bever- age.

WINE CLUB

My red cheapie from Spain(4) is a bit of a gamble. Not everybody will like the Dominio La Sierpe and some will dislike it intensely, but it is a well-made, unusual wine, showing massive concentration of rather risque tastes. The final choice was between it and a southern French cabernet which was perfectly proper but dull. This wine is, in fact, made from grenache grapes by the carbonic maceration technique, as used in Beaujolais.

What comes out is a farouche, hairy, short-legged Spanish tipple, full of barbaric machismo with a curly black beard and low-slung bottom. But it is definitely a hidalgo. The peppery, rubbery/raspberry nose gives way to a deep fruit with strains of resin and eucalyptus which suggest something much more expensive than the £4.15 asked (13.65 discounted on the Brett-Smith indulgence). This is a seriously rich and seriously grand wine in the autochthonous hidalgo fashion, which will go well with very rich or very straightfor- ward food, like a hard cheese or a yellow risotto. It is just a question of whether you like it or not.

Next, a soft, plump, lightweight charm- ingly easy claret from Moueix(4). The year 1992 is now generally recognised as having been a pretty poor one, which may explain why this exceptionally pleasant wine has been reduced from £5.63 to £5.20 and an unbelievable £4.70 discounted. This Château Bel-Air is fat, elegant and unchal- lenging. Everybody will like it, particularly those who are bored with being chal- lenged. It is also a better, if more conven- tional, wine than the average wine-drinker from the chain-stores sees from one year's end to the next.

Finally, a noted cru bourgeois from the Haut-Medoc in the unfashionable year of 1991. The price of £7.25 (£6.75 discounted) may seem unfriendly, but it has been reduced from £8.37 and I can only say it beat another Medoc cru bourgeois from the miraculous year of 1990 into a cocked hat. This is an unmistakably high-class wine with a lovely smell. It probably won't improve and should be drunk now, but decant it first and people will think they are being given something very expensive indeed.

The sample case, which, as I say, works out at £5.81 or £5.31 discounted, will be useful for finding out whether or not you like the hairy-bottomed hidalgo from Navarre(4) at £3.65 discounted. Some will decide it is the wine they have been await- ing all these years and drink nothing else for two months. But all the other wines are so good they should be seized at these reduced prices while stocks last. We may not see another offer like this one for some time.