SPECTATOR WINE CLUB
Absolute crackers
Auberon Waugh
For the first time in The Spectator Wine Club's 12-year existence, I have decided to make a serious effort to push some top-class fortified wines. It seems to me that we are all drinking less spirits - at any rate I am - and fortified wines, whether drunk as an aperitif, a digestif, an early-morning pick-me-up, an afternoon solace or a nightcap, fill a definite need. There are times when even the best table wine tastes thin and insubstantial. These three wines, all shipped by the London .arm of Symington (the port dynasty owning Dow, Graham, Wane among others), are absolute crackers, and the six-pack Passport to Heaven would make a brilliant present for anyone, introducing him or her to the delights of the best madeira, the best 10- year-old tawny and a sherry which, at the give-away price of £4.87 (or £4.37 at the bulk rate), may revolutionise all social life.
But first, three table wines. The Torres Gran Vina Sol 'Chardonnay 1993(1) at £5.15 the bottle (£4.65 reduced) is not recognis- able as a Spanish wine or, indeed, as a wine from anywhere in particular, although I observe it contains 15 per cent from the parellada grape, whatever that may be. It is a good clean varietal chardonnay with plen- ty of acid to balance the richness, powerful fruit and good value at the single-case price of £5.15, let alone the reduced rate of £4.65. Torres is a serious winemaker, mak- ing most of the best table wines in Penedes and described by Hugh Johnson as a flag- ship for the whole of Spain.
Next, a New Zealand sauvignoe from Marlborough. These New Zealand sauvi- gnon blancs can become addictive. They have an abundance of gooseberry and fresh grass, which makes them instantly identifi- able; once hooked, one may never look at a Sancerre or a Pouilly Fume again. Luckily, perhaps, they are not cheap, but Tim Stan- ley-Clarke of Fells has knocked £1 off the average retail price of £7.99 to bring us this Grove Mill at £6.91 delivered, and with the quantity discount this comes down to £6.41.
Back to Torres for our last table wine. Hugh Johnson describes these Gran Coro- nas Reservaso) from cabernet sauvignon as quite simply 'superlative' while also sug- gesting that the 1988 might improve with keeping. I agree that it seems to have qui- etened down since the panel first tasted it in February, but I do not think these Span- ish wines go to sleep for long, and anybody can tell from its deep, aromatic smell and thick, dark colour that it will always be a full and thoroughly enjoyable wine. It has already come down by over £1 to £6.92, and nobody will ever again see it so cheap as the discounted rate of £6.42.
Now the Passport to Heaven department. Sherry drinkers are notoriously stick-in-the- mud where their favoured brands are con- cerned, and non-sherry drinkers are almost impossible to convert, but we must change all that. This Barbadillo manzanille at 15.5 per cent by volume is one-and-a-half points lighter than most finos. This makes it less liv- erish, less astringent and easier to drink. The taste is utterly delicious, with all the thy, nutty resonances which can be drowned by excessive alcohol. It is breathtakingly laid- back and elegant, and a gift at £4.87 deliv- ered. At the discounted rate of £4.37 it is not so much a gift as an act of robbery.
Next the madeira, which is notoriously hard to move nowadays. The trouble is we all tried inferior versions with caraway seedcake as undergraduates, and look upon it as a childhood affectation. I went to a grand madeira tasting at the Portuguese embassy recently - ancient buals, sercials and vendelhos over 100 years old - but found none I really enjoyed as much as this five- year-old rich malmsey from Blandyo). The colour of dark amber, the nearest smell to it I could think was of prunes in armagnac, but then a member of the panel produced some prunes in armagnac and they smelled quite different. Malty and plummy, it might best be described as the liquid statement of some- thing between a rich fruit cake and a Christ- mas pudding. The balance of sugar, acid, fruit and alcohol (17.5 per cent) is absolutely right, and I hope many Spectator readers will discover a new passion in their lives. Dow's ten-year-old tawnyo) should need no introduction, but it probably does. Near- ly all the shippers have good ten-year-old tawnies, and they keep, once opened, almost indefinitely, unlike vintage port. The Dow is slightly drier than most, with a good acid closure which prevents it cloying and a wonderful, strong, elegant, tawny taste which nobody can fail to like. The mixed case) works out at £7.80 the bottle (£7.30 reduced, average strength nearly 15 per cent by volume). The Passport to Heaveno” six-pack works out at £9.28 the bottle (£8.78 reduced, average strength 17.66 per cent by volume).
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