SPECTATOR WINE CLUB
Various shades of red
Auberon Waugh
The last offer was memorable for a won- derful Gigondas 1989, here repeated° and two brilliant Beaujolais of which one, the Brouilly Montbriand 1989'4' survives. Peter Harris, the proprietor, urges me to state that Longford Wines has now switched from the worst wine distributor in Britain to the best. His last carrier lost or destroyed 22 cases out of 400 in the Jan- uary offer, for which he wishes to apologise anew. His new carrier, he claims, imported and distributed a million cases from France last year, and broke three bottles in the process. I would be interested to hear of any breakages or mishaps on this offer.
And so to the wines. The Domaine de Castelas 1989 pours out a deep red, slightly sweaty on the nose to begin with, settling Into a smooth, fruity example which slips down a treat. At £4.60 it has no rough edges, all dandy and fine. Everybody will like it?
The Lirac(2), by contrast, pours out a love- ly black colour; it is still half closed, like . . . no, that will not do — but with a thick, Provençal lip that promises deep earthy delights, thyme-scented and resonant of cicadas. Peter Mayle has not ruined Provence if we can enjoy it 800 miles away from him in the comfort of England. Lirac is chiefly famous for a rosé which people claim to be nearly as good as Tavel, but this red, which seems to have more than its share of the mourvedre grape and reminds me more of a Bandol than a Chateauneuf or a Gigondas, is a dense, concentrated wine which many will find the greatest rev- elation in the offer. At £5 the bottle it is also the most obvious bargain.
I would rave about the Gigondas except that I already did so, in the January offer, when it had one of the most enthusi- astic receptions in memory. I had hoped it would have opened up in the past eight months, but in fact it seems to have retrenched a little. It is still a marvellous wine, meaty, dense, black, with buried power — but whereas one could drink it with it clear conscience in January, I now feel t really should be left in the dark or pinned down' for another 18 months while it gets over the problems of adolescence. There is nothing unbalanced or improper in it, and it is still on course to make some- thing truly great in ten years' time, but it would be a shame to drink it now.
The Domaine de Montbriand, from Brouillyo), still deserves all the extravagant promise I lavished on it in January, and even more. As I said then, it is a really seri- ous wine, something I had never expected to find in Beaujolais, and getting more seri- ous with every month that passes. It should at £6.35 the bottle, But it is a lovely, deep, Burgundian beaujolais, dark, full and hid- den, with wonderful fruity echoes. Richness is not a word one usually associates with beaujolais. This wine is Rothschild rich, and not ashamed to tell you: It is a little while since I offered a Chateauneuf, having been irritated by price movements, but this La Plantee des Papes 1989o) at £6.75 struck me as wonderfully fragrant, thick, and sweet with agreeably
rustic elements, not unlike an Australian shiraz. The thing to do with these young, strong wines is either to drink them now, when they are full of oomph and the joys of youth, or put them away for five years, when they will be just as good, slightly blan- der and without the acrylic touch on the nose which some find improper. But this is a first-class example of a first-class wine, and one would be foolish to ignore it. Chateauneuf bought blind nowadays all too often turns out pale, over-scented and short-lived. Everybody should have a few cases of the real stuff in his or her cellar. There are certain moments in life when nothing else will do.
Finally, a village burgundy of a good yearm at a vastly reduced price for the ben- efit of Spectator readers. I can't and won't rave about it, because although £7.95 is a gift by Burgundy standards, it is still a pig of a price for a wine which is slightly lightweight by comparison with everything else in this offer. Others liked it more than I did, and for those who prefer their Bur- gundies light this is a good stylish example, but I won't be buying any. The most excit- ing newcomer in the list, as I say, is the Lirac(2) at £5.00. No serious wine-buyer should overlook the Gigondaso) at £5.95 or the Chateauneufs) at £6.75 while the Brouillym is utterly, utterly brilliant if pricey, at £6.35, for a Beaujolais. The sam- ple case works out at £6.10.
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