22 JUNE 1962, Page 31

Wine ot the Week

MILE firm of 0. W. Loeb is especially famous 1 for its Mosels, which account for more than half its retail list. But at Glyndebourne, where it supplies all the German wines, there are eight hocks to four Mosels, and it was a hock that a member of the firm stood me for dinner there the other evening, and with justifiable pride— the 1958 I< reuznacher Brueckes Rotlay, which I can testify goes splendidly both --with salmon and with Mozart. It has freshness and delicacy, along with the characteristic Nahe fragrance and fruit, and Glyndebourne's caterers deserve full marks for listing so aristocratic a wine, estate- bottled, and shipped by one of our most fastidious shippers, at a restaurant price of. only 35s.

But then I notice, too, that Glyndebourne, in spite of its overheads and its short season, offers named, vintage wines at 18s., where. British Rail- ways hotels, with their all-the-year-round trade and vast resources, charge 20s. -,for cheaper district wines. It isn't Glyndebouriag',s, fault, on the other hand, but the fatuity of the local licensing magistrates, that you can't now get a drink before the .curtain rises, after the long journey from London, but can drink longer after the performance instead, preparatory to the long