Wine Club

Mellow fruitfulness

Auberon Waugh All the Pierre Andre offers have been popular, each one more successful than the last, so it would be stupid to change the for- mula, even down to a miraculously cheap 1990 premier cru Beaune — the second which Mr Harris of Longford Wines has been able to find for us. In fact, the Savi- gny-les-Beaune Aux Clous 199001 appeared last March as a substitute for the Savigny- les-Beaune Les Guettes of the same year, which was oversubscribed. Those who received the Aux Clous went wild with enthusiasm, and although I have not been able to taste them together, I suspect the Aux Clous may be even better than the Guettes. At £8.95 for a 1990 premier cru Beaune it would be given away if it tasted of eucalyptus and cabbage water. As a bril- liant wine from a brilliant vintage, it is one of my proudest bargains.

But I am jumping the gun. First a return of the 1991 Macon Villages") of Macon Andre which appeared first in the March offer, when it was reduced from £6.35 to £5.95, and now reappears — richer, fuller and fruitier than before — at £5.75. One does not like to gloat, but it seems that some others, apart from the poor English, are feeling a squeeze. The explanation, I fancy, is that the 1991 vintage in Burgundy has been tremendously undersold after the splendours of 1990, and they are going to have difficulty selling any of it. But some very pleasant wines were made, and this is one of them, getting better and better with four days open in the fridge, developing honey and ending with masses of ripe fruit. Some may be tempted to hold on for yet another appearance, but I think they would be foolish.

The Ceps Roussis 19902' from Cotes du Rhone is a new one on me, and I can't tell you much about it except that it has a strong nose, beautiful colour and is very much the Right Stuff. At £4.95 it has too much tannin in among the fruit to be an obvious choice as an aperitif wine, but if taken with food — especially strong tasting or greasy food — it comes across as an ele- gant, high-class, restrained, gentlemanly sort of Rhone which everyone will praise.

Next, an old friend from the Domaine de Castelas whose 1990 made a lot of Spectator readers very happy in the offer of Septem- ber 1992. The 1991 was less exciting when I tasted it, but everybody on the panel adored this 1992'''. More RhOnish than the Ceps Roussis''', it is also less restrained, less elegant, sweeter and altogether louder, but it is immediately acessible, full of plums, blackberries and other ripe fruit, and amaz- ingly well concentrated for its price of £5.25. The Gigondas Lescapelles 1990(4) is obvi- ously a more serious wine. If the Castelas is rich, this wine is seriously rich, with an ele- gance and reserve which hide enormous power, only just beginning to show. It is a rich man's wine at a price — £6.95 — which one does not have to be rich to afford, and will go on improving, I should guess, for another 15 years, being delicious (as it is now) throughout. Now for two 1990 Burgundies. The Mer- curey Les Gavottes"' is not really for drink- ing now, I am sorry to say. If you must drink it now, leave it open for nine hours first. I once made a dreadful mistake and opined that a 1978 Cote Rotie from Andre Gerin would turn into a beautiful wine one day. It never did, and remains in my cellar to rebuke me. But that was many years ago, and I am as sure as I am of most things that this Mercurey, for all its pale colour (it has a dark, rich smell), will turn into something very good indeed in the course of the next seven years. It has masses of guts, concen- trated, rich, tannic and very fruity — horrid now, but I swear you will bless me in five years' time, having bought it at the unbe- lievable price of £7.50. Finally, the Savigny-les-Beaune Aux Clous 1990"), about which I have already

SPECTATOR WINE CLUB

c/o Longford Wines Longford Farmhouse, Spithurst, Barcombe, Lewes, E Sussex BN8 5ED Telephone number and fax: (0273) 401497

Price No. Value White

Macon Villages 1991 12 Bots. f69.00 Red

Cotes du Rh6ne, Ceps

Roussis 1990 12 Bots £59.40

Cotes du Rhone, Domaine de

Castelas 1992 12 Bots. £63.00

Gigondas, Lescapelles 1990 12 Bots. £83.40

Mercurey Les Gavottes 1990 12 Bots. £90.00

Savigny-les-Beaune,

Aux Clous 1990 12 Bots. f107.40 Mixed

Sample case, two bottles of each 12 Bots. £78.70

TOTAL (Cheque enclosed)

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NAME ADDRESS POSTCODE TELEPHONE Prices include VAT and delivery on the British mainland. Cheques should be made payable to the Spec- tator Wine Club, and sent with the order. This offer, which is subject to stock availability, closes on 30 July 1993.

swanked and raved. At £8.95 it is the best bargain in expensive, high-class Burgundy we are likely to see outside a bankrupt sale, but obviously I must try to describe the wine: it is in the new style, immensely full of tastes which lose nothing from being young tastes. Overnight it developed even greater delights, and I suppose it is reason- able to suppose it will produce further com- plexities in the next three or five years, but quite honestly I don't know. It will never turn into what you and I would recognise as Old Burgundy — and I should think it is as delicious now as it will always be. It has a lovely light garnet colour, a strong pinot nose, and is immensely full and complete. Perhaps it will make Old Burgundy, but I should judge it too good as it is to risk the chance. What nobody who knows anything about Burgundy can dispute is that it is a tremendous bargain at £8.95 — about half the price other, more optimistic wine mer- chants will ask for a wine of this quality.

The sample case''' works out at £6.56 the bottle — only a few pennies more than the September 1992 offer, while the standard, I would like to think, has gone up steadily.