SPECTATOR WINE CLUB

People will kick themselves

Auberon Waugh

Al these wines are from Pierre Andre except the Chateauneuf'`', and all keep up the good name. The first may come as the greatest surprise, since not much fuss has been made of the 1991 white burgundies, and Macon-Villages is seldom a very excit- ing appellation. However, my own tastings of these 1991 white burgundies around the trade in London have persuaded me to take them very seriously indeed — despite devaluation, the price is down — and I think I may devote an entire offer to them before very long.

This example), which has been reduced from £6.35 to £5.95 to attract Spectator buy- ers, had a lovely, mild, dry honey taste on first tasting, with a touch of smoke at the end which one panel member identified as bitterness (in the way that quinine is bitter, rather than lemons which, pace Lawrence Durrell, are acid or sharp rather than bit- ter).

However, this element disappeared as soon as it was drunk with food, and on sub- sequent tastings, throughout four days in the fridge, the wine got better and better. Our conclusion was that this is a seriously good wine, with class and staying power well above its price or description, ending up with masses of ripe fruit. Then, alas, the bottle was finished, but I and another member of the panel are ordering some.

Now for the reds. The Cuvee du Patron''' is exactly what it sounds to be, a blended table wine from grenache grapes collected from one area in northern RhOne, adjacent to the Domaine de Castelas, and another in the south near Lirac, held together with a little Macabeo to give it structure. It is round, full, very Rhonish with a good strong smell and robust but with nothing rough or nasty. At £3.95 the bottle I could drink three gallons of it and so could almost everyone else except, I suppose, the very poor, the unfortunate, the under-class.

By contrast our other cheapie, Pierre Andre's Cuvee Privee from the C6teaux du Tricastin''', is paler, fruitier, classier, more generic, more pretentious, a slight but ele- gant wine which I would judge a good com- panion to chicken. At £4.25 it is not much more expensive — more proper if slightly less convivial.

Quite a big price jump to the Morgon Lesegrelles 1991'4' at £6.15 the bottle. It struck me as an exceptionally well made example of the rich, concentrated, gamy, almost luscious style of Beaujolais. At least I think I found it gamy. A later note — rich, intense, full, gamay — refers to the gamay grape, from which Beaujolais is made, rather than any resemblance to a pheasant or grouse. Either way, it was most enthusi- astically received. Sorry about the price but another, much more expensive Beaujolais — a St Amour at £7.25 — struck us as less good. Chateauneuf with the proper taste of Chateauneuf — heavy, dark, spicy, sweet 'n' rich 'n' easy — is always expensive these days, so I make no apology for Gabriel Lioqier's price of £7.55 for his 1990 from the Domaine Montjoie'''. It already tastes like a wine six years older than it is. I should judge it too opulent to drink with anything but Cheddar or Stilton at present — with masses of fruit, there is not a tremendous bite — but no doubt it will start drying out one day. For those who like the heavy, spiced-up vanilla style of expen- sive Chateauneuf, as I do, it is quite deli- cious. Last of all, what mtist surely be the great- est bargain, although the price of £8.95 a bottle will discourage some buyers, and my recommendation to limp it at least another 30 months will discourage many more. But search as I might through other mer- chants' catalogues, I cannot find another 1990 premier cru Beaune for under £140 the case.

The Spectator's price of £107.40 for a 1990 Savigny les Beaunes les Guettesw, if I may make the claim without immodesty, is something of a sensation. This is classic, straightforward, high-class burgundy, nice fruit, no complications, a bit closed but guaranteeing to deliver the goods, and to deliver them before very long. Good acid, not much tannin, will be drinking in 1995, at its peak in 1998. They say the price of burgundy is coming down, but so, I dare say, is the pound. Since 1990 is generally judged the best year since 1978, probably better, people who miss the opportunity will kick themselves.

The sample case''' works out at £6.13 the bottle — sixpence cheaper than the September 1992 Longford offer.

ORDER FORM SPECTATOR WINE CLUB

c/o Longford Wines Longford Farmhouse, Spithurst, Barcombe, Lewes, East Sussex BN8 5E0. Telephone and Fax: (0273) 400232

White

Price No. Value

Macon Villages (Macon

Andre) 1991 12 Bots. £71.40 Red

Curie du Patron (yin de table) 12 Bots £47.40

Cenearor do Tricastin, Cuvee

Priv& 1991 12 Bots. £51.00

Morgon Lesegrelles 12 Bots. £73.80

Cliteatineuf-du-Pape

(Lioqier. Montjoie) 1990 12 Bots. £90.60

Savigny-les-Beaunes les

Guettes 1990 12 Bots. £107.40 'lined

Sample case. two of each 12 Bots. £73.60

TOTAL (Cheque enclosed)

Please send wine to: NAME ADDRESS POSTCODE Own name & address, if different: NAME ADDRESS POSTCODE Prices include VAT and delivery on the British mainland. Cheques should be made payable to Specta- tor Wine Club, and sent with the order. This offer, which is subject to stock availability, closes on 30 April 1993.