Bottling it up is good for you

Simon Davis toasts the delights of prolonged anticipation Staring from the windows of the 18.22 Paddington to Moreton-inMarsh, it occurs to me that the best things in my life — holidays and sex — have been planned. In clarifying the latter I should say there have been excellent one-night stands, but it’s always been more satisfying after courting and, in this age of urgency, the rare delight of a prolonged anticipation.

Impulse is said to be the key to a pleasuresodden life but I fancy it is best to deliberate the most important things, the things that persuade me to board the 18.22 rather than step in front of it. Our happiness depends on more than whimsy.

I once realised that my approach to wine — one of my chief pleasures — was impulsive. If I needed some, I would visit an off-licence, fall for a fancy label, buy the bottle at an inflated price and drink it. Regret would usually follow.

Surely something so potentially glorious as wine is deserving of more consideration. My inspiration came while I was staying as a house guest of a family in Gloucestershire. Miranda, the daughter of my hosts, was extremely attractive and amusing so I set about chatting up the parents.

Her stepfather was a wine dealer and got excitable when explaining how he had bought magnums for his own daughter when she was born (1983). They would drink them with her on special occasions. He was upset she hadn’t been born in 1982.

At first I pretended to be interested, but his enthusiasm was infectious. I didn’t have children, a cellar or very much money, but these were small hurdles and I was hooked on the idea of laying down both wine and Miranda (1970, great for port).

I bought my first case en primeur in 1999 (a 1998 Château La Fleur Gazin) and have bought various cases three clarets and two red Burgundies — each year depending on vintage. (En primeur means buying before it is bottled.) I’ve just finished the La Fleur Gazin and it was delicious. It cost £170 a case in 1998 and if you could find any now, it would be about £300.

At present there is much talk of buying en primeur because the first tastings of the 2005 Bordeaux reveal it to be the best in living memory. It could trump the greats — ’28, ’45, ’61, ’82, ’90 and 2000.

‘It’s the most exciting young vintage we have ever tasted,’ Joss Fowler, head of fine wine at Berry Bros & Rudd tells me.

Jancis Robinson calls it ‘exceptional’.

The 2005 is a dinner-party subject to rival schools, so it is helpful to know the grown-up bit. It’s a spellbinding vintage because the sun shone, the nights were cool and what little rain there was fell with perfect timing. This gave low yields of ripe grapes with thick skins, concentrated juice and healthy acidity.

So what should you buy? Nick Clark, MD of Haynes Hanson & Clark, says that for under £250 a case you should go for Château Picque Caillou and PessacLéognan. For £250–£500 a case, try Château Duhart-Milon, Pauillac, Château HautBages-Liberal, Pauillac, or Château DurfortVivens, Margaux. If you are splashing out, go for Château Grand Puy Lacoste, Pauillac, or Château La Fleur Pétrus, Pomerol.

The joy of en primeur is that you buy what you want at the best price. I now spend less, per bottle, on wine than I did in my reckless impulse-buying days, and I and my guests drink wine of a far greater quality. I love the fact that I can have my wine bottled in magnums, double magnums or imperials. There are few sights more cheering than a table set for Sunday lunch with two double magnums. Particularly if there are just four of you. You do need good storage. Either your own cellar, that of a (very) reliable friend or a storage company. Smith & Taylor, based in London (020 7627 5070) and Manchester (email cellar@smithandtaylor.com) are excellent.

It was a good weekend I had in Gloucestershire in 1998 (excellent Rhône and champagne). Miranda and I now have two children, Jasmine (2003, and a cracking St Estephe year despite the drought) and Casper (2004, great Médoc but shame he wasn’t a 2005), and whenever the vintage has legs I buy them a case each.

I have just managed to get a case of magnums of La Fleur Pétrus 2005. They can drink it or sell it when they are older. I’d rather they drank it, preferably with me. It could still be drinking well past 2050 as I very much hope I am.

Berry Bros & Rudd, 3 St. James’s Street, London SW1A 1EG (Tel: 020 7396 9600). Haynes Hanson & Clark Wine Merchants, Stow on the Wold (Tel: 01451 870808) or London (Tel: 020 7259 0102).

The 2005 Burgundy is excellent but will not be available until January 2007.