SPECTATOR WINE CLUB
This is the cheapest offer we have had for some time — or are ever likely to have again unless something miraculous hap- pens to the pound — with wine from four countries and three continents averaging slightly under £4.47 the bottle delivered, on the sample case.
I suppose I should be slightly nervous about the first wine, a non-vintage dry white from Rolleston Vale, South Eastern Australia([). In a reduced panel of three, two participants (they happened to be mar- ried) agreed in finding it had an odd taste which they thought cheap, like a pub wine, and unworthy of the Spectator Wine Club. Although it was not easy to identify any particular grape variety, I found it fruity, fresh, without any of the usual faults of a cheap white, and excellent value at £3.90 the bottle delivered. Next day, on a second tasting, the two recalcitrants had come round to agree that it was just about acceptable, but people may think that I bul- lied them. It is an interesting fact I have often observed that for every serious wine- drinker, there is a particular cheap, bad wine which he will eccentrically enjoy. Often he will serve it to resentful guests, but it is a wonderful thing for the house- hold economy to find a cheap bad wine you really like and everybody else detests. Many may decide this is my particular odd- ball, and give it a miss, but I sincerely believe it is a good wine and a great bargain at £3.90. Those who trust me will give it a whirl. If they are disappointed, they can always pass it on to the young.
Everybody liked the Peteroa Chardonnay 1994 from Chile(2), finding its good, rich colonial character unmarred by any of the usual faults. There is nothing flabby, soapy, oily or flat in its rich, concentrated fruit. A good flinty smell. Perhaps no complexity in this beautiful chardonnay taste, but plenty of depth. Highly recommended at £4.64.
A much larger panel sat in judgment on the 1994 Sancerre from Domaine des Buis- sonnes(3) and all of them praised it to the skies. It is a classic Sancerre, with a knock- out gooseberry smell, plenty of acid to bal- ance the overwhelming sauvignon fruit, an excellent wine at a truly remarkable price. Most Sancerres offered to me nowadays cost £11 or £12 a bottle. I don't know of any others available at £6.36 or anything like it, and this example is a real cracker. I sup- pose it should be appointed star of the offer, but there is another wine, in addition to the Peteroa Chardonnay, which deserves some gesture of celebration. The non-vintage Vin de Pays de la Prim- cipaute d'Orange(4) may not make anyone dance or weep with joy, but it is a good light wine, ideal for picnics, at a time when it is quite hard to find good light reds — let alone at £3.45 the bottle. Pale-coloured, slightly Provençal in its aroma, it is made
A blessing from heaven
Auberon Waugh
for warm weather with a decent, full taste which excited the only Frenchman on the panel very much.
The Orange wine weighs in at 12 per cent by volume. Another seriously cheap red, the Pereroa Cabernet Malbec from Paipu, Chile(5)' is altogether heavier at £3.80, and 131a per cent by volume, with a lovely dark colour, strong blackcurrant smell and a faint touch of boiled sweet (not to be despised) in its fruit which will make it a hugely successful party wine. People will be falling over themselves to congratulate you on it.
Finally, another star. The Colegiata Tinto(6) from Toro in south-west Spain is a seriously up-market, clean, strong and ele- gant wine, nothing sweet or suspect in the loud, strong noises it makes — wonderfully pure and clean. It has no complexity and no tannin that I could spot, and is probably best for drinking now. Easy, delicious drinking and a lovely wine at any price. At £4.65, a blessing from heaven.
Even with three stars in it, the price of the sample case works out at under £4.50 the bottle, as I pointed out. I very much doubt if we will ever have a cheaper offer.
Previous page
