SPECTATOR WINE CLUB
Join the louts of Lebanon
Auberon Waugh
Traditionally, our annual offer from Chateaux Wines is seen as little more than window-dressing around the introduction of a new vintage from Château Musar, the miraculous Lebanese grand yin. On this occasion, however, young David Miller has found a seriously good sauternes(3) from a spectacularly good year — the Internation- al Wine and Food Society give 1988 sauternes the region's first seven out of seven since 1967 — at the extraordinarily reasonable price of a penny under £10 the bottle. On this occasion, the Musars will have to make room on their pedestal.
First, a good, solid white burgundy. Delaunay's Macon Villages(1) have proved thoroughly sound over the years. At £5.72 the bottle you can't expect to dance or fall to the ground in ecstasy, but it has plenty of flavour, nothing sharp or tannic or unbalanced. The 1988 will be sent out first, followed by the 1990 which is stronger and more assertive and will be the better wine in six to nine months' time. At present it is better with food, less acceptable as an aperitif or for swilling out of hours.
I nearly dropped the 1989 Rosemount Show Reserve Chardonnay(2) when I saw its new price of £7.74 the bottle, but a tasting convinced the panel that this would be a mistake. In 1989 the Hunter Valley managed to produce a really big, full wine without any of the cardboard under-acidity which worried me in the 1988. It is sweeter than the Macon Villages, as one would expect, and an altogether richer experi- ence, with bananas on the surprisingly honeyed nose, a touch of melon in the strong fruit and enough acid to keep it balanced. It is a thoroughly good wine, and I can only apologise for the price.
Next the Sauternes, whose price of £9.99 needs no apology, and in fact represents a tremendous bargain. I cannot claim to have heard of Château Briatte(3) before, but it has the Sauternes appellation and speaks for itself. The colour is paler than it should be — probably it will yellow with age — but the smell and taste are quite outstanding. The nose is all honey and hay, the taste is pure, deep noble rot. The English always maintain you should keep good Sauternes at least ten years, prefer- ably 40, but I maintain there are two entirely separate tastes — young Sauternes, as the French drink it, and old Sauternes, as we prefer — both of which are equally delicious. Under the circumst- ances, it seems a waste of time to keep it for 40 years. This example, in any case, has mysteriously acquired the taste of old Sauternes, except for a slight oiliness which you always find in Sauternes when it is first assembled. It is very cheap indeed at a penny under £10 the bottle. Perhaps the best thing would be to buy two cases, one for drinking in the next three years, the other for tackling in seven years' time. The 1986 Cheret Pitres(4), from Graves, can just about be drunk with food, but will improve with keeping. It is a sturdy little château, listed by Hugh Johnson, which never lets you down, although I don't like the new price of £7.44. Full of fruit with a mysterious but agreeable smell of crushed cherries, it would definitely be worth keep- ing three or four years by those who have the patience.
Now for the two Musars. The 1981(5) needs no introduction, since most of us, have been drinking it for two years. More than anything else, it founded the fortunes of the Academy Club, Beak Street, where it has only now been replaced by the '83(6). I have skipped the '82, not because I do not think it is a good wine — it is absolutely splendid and has improved over the year but because the '83 is even better and is also slightly cheaper. At £7.16 for the '81 and £6.55 for the '83 these two are a gift. It is only snobbery which keeps them so cheap, or which keeps them affordable at all. They are unquestionably comparable in quality to the best wines of Beychevelle, Lynch Bages or Hermitage, the second best of Latour or Chamberlin. The '81 is more concentrated and finer, the '83 prom- ises more complexity. Since 1980, Mon- sieur Hochar has invested in more expen- sive corks, and there will be no dud bottles if you keep them forever.
I would drink practically nothing except for Musar, except that my wife and one of my daughters find it too rich. It is certainly rather alcoholic at 14 per cent by volume, but the concentration of fruit — cabernet sauvignon, syrah and an identifiable touch of cinsault — carries the alcohol effortless- ly. I find I get through six cases a year, not counting bottles bought in the Academy. Let us thank God for snobbery, and for feminine modesty,, as we pass the wine.
Women members of the Academy sel- dom show such reticence. What Carlsberg Special Brew is to lager louts, Château Musar has become to the world of letters.
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