Simon Hoggart
BERRY Bros ST. Rudd are Britain's oldest wine merchants. A visit to their 300-year-old building in St James's is delightful but also somewhat disconcerting, even overwhelming. There are the ancient wood panels and the creaking floors. Recently mere merchandise has started to appear in the shop, but for the most part clients arrive for a discreet conversation before the wines are brought up from the cellars. Empty bottles which once contained the world's most fabulous wines — Yquem, Romanee-Conti — line the shelves and cupboards, rather like those signed photographs of the famous that some people use to decorate their houses. You expect the bottles to say, 'It was great being drunk by you! All the best, Margaux ('61).' In short, this is not a place where you pop in for something to wash down that take-away curry.
So I have assembled an offer which is full of wines that are not only delicious and fullflavoured, but have a certain standing, a confidence born of tradition, None is cheap, but they are quite remarkable value. Berrys has knocked 10 per cent off every wine bought by the case, and there's 12.5 per cent off if you buy five cases or more. They are, of course, perfect for Christmas.
The Domaine de Coudoulet, Viognier 2001(1' from Languedoc-Roussillon has all the fresh, flowery, fruity, perfumed flavour of this newly and deservedly popular grape. This is made by the sixth generation of the Ournac family, and those years of experience show. A lovely, stylish aperitif, or powerful enough to drink with almost any food.
At a dinner last month for Michael Broadbent, doyen of all British wine-tasters, the guest of honour told us that it was, on the whole, a mistake to drink pudding wine with pudding. Since the whole point of, say, a great Sauternes is its piercing sweetness, it's just silly to mask it with a sticky toffee pudding. Which brings me to Bruno Sorg's Gewurztraminer 2000'21, made by one of the best producers in Alsace. This is not as weighty as some Gewurz, but it does have those smoky, floral, slightly oily, spicy lychee flavours of the grape at its best. It would be perfect with a rich pâté, or with fresh fruit — or even sticky toffee pudding. A graceful and distinguished wine.
All I can say about the Pinot Grigio, Lis Neris, Alvaro Pecorari 2001" is that it is the best Pinot Grigio I have ever had anywhere. Forget the watery fluid in retro Italian restaurants where the Parma ham is presliced and the pepper-mills are the size of giant redwoods. This is truly rich, complex, stuffed with fruit, and utterly delicious.
Spectator readers love their claret. Sadly, most of the cheap stuff is awful, and the really good stuff painfully overpriced. So I was delighted to try the Ch. Jonqueyres, Bordeaux Superieur 19984h, a soft yet full
wine made from 80 per cent Merlot, which gives it the pleasant suppleness of a good St-Emilion. Ready to drink, but would last a year or so more. At last, a red Bordeaux I can heartily recommend.
Rhone wines get more popular all the time, and I'm not surprised when I taste bottles such as the Crozes-Hermitage, La Matiniere 2000 from Domaine Ferraton'. It has that spicy, bramble flavour with a lovely scented whiff of sun-baked hills. Almost as good as straight Hermitage, and a lot, lot cheaper.
Finally, the Peregrine Pinot Noir 2001'' from Central Otago proves once more what tremendous advances have been made with this tricky grape in New Zealand. This is pricy, but when you consider what is being asked for the best red Burgundies, and increasingly by growers in Oregon, it's terrific value, It's not too heavy, either, so it could go just as well with roast chicken as with game or, frankly, left-over ham with bubble and squeak.
You can buy any of the wines by the case, or else try the sample case, which contains two of each bottle. Delivery is free, and there is a 12.5 per cent discount if you buy five cases or more. I know you will enjoy all of them.
Previous page
