SPECTATOR WINE CLUB Simon Hoggart
OUR high-summer offer comes from C.G. Bull and Taylor, a long-established firm which, for some reason, is now located opposite Battersea Dogs' Home. So if you drink too much of their excellent product, the hair of the dog is readily to hand. This month we've combined good, pleasing, lowpriced wines with some interesting new finds and one or two wonderful treats. All prices include free delivery plus a 5 per cent discount on the list price. There is also a complicated formula for yet deeper cuts. All deliveries inside the M25 bring a further £6 per case discount. Outside, beyond B&T's own vans' delivery area, there's a £3 a case discount for three cases or more, or £6 per case if your total order is £180 or higher. I hope that's clear.
The first white is a Domaine de Grachies 2000"' from the Cotes de Gascogne. I've been hammering on for months about the truly excellent inexpensive glugging wines being produced by the French pays. This is rounded and fruity and crisp and refreshing, and just perfect for getting your guests rolling drunk at a summer Sunday lunch. At £4.23 a bottle, you won't ever mind uncorking another.
The next is unusual. It's an Albarino from Galicia, in the very north-western corner of Spain. It's a little similar to vinho verde, but much, much nicer than most of the Portuguese wine, which can make your mouth pucker and your lips turn inside out, so you look like Michael Portia°, Hugh Johnson calls the Albarino wines 'aromatic and silky . . . important originals which challenge the best white wines of Spain'. Who am I to argue? I think this one, the Castel del Fornos 2000'2), is a snip at £6.99.
Next, one of the nicest white wines I've ever enjoyed. The Saint-Aubin 19970 from the famous Burgundy house of Louis Jadot costs £13.40, which is plenty, and I suspect readers may want to try it in the sampling case to see if they agree. It's about twothirds the cost of even an ordinary PulignyMontrachet, to which Saint-Aubin is adjacent, and I think every bit as good. It has an amazingly rich, dark taste, with (here I go
into computer-simulated overdrive) flavours of vanilla, hazelnuts, toast, caramel, peaches and chocolate. Sorry, that sounds disgusting. In fact, this is a wonderful, complex Chardonnay. Miraculously for France, it's as good value as you might find in, say. the Margaret River region of Australia, and even better than California.
Next a terrific treat. It's an aged Ternpranillo (vintage 1996)"' from Allozo in La Mancha, so it's the wine Don Quixote would have drunk if he'd been lucky enough to be alive now, Tempranillo is the main grape in Rioja, but this is lighter and fresher, full of scrummy fruit, and another perfect summer wine for knocking back. You could even chill it slightly and serve with salmon, Wonderful value at £4.60.
Beaujolais is still cursed with the remembered horrors of Beaujolais Nouveau, much of which would be ideal for polishing brass. Michel Dumontet's Beaujolais Villages 2000° is a very different kettle of grapes. He and his wife make their wine from 35year-old vines in small parcels of sandy, south-east-facing land scattered about the village of Le Perreon, near Brouilly. Lovely deep fruity, velvety flavour and colour make it fine value at £5.99.
Finally, for Bordeaux lovers we have a Graves. Chateau des Gravieres 19980' is made from 60 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon and 40 per cent Merlot, the latter grape making it softer and rounder than your average claret. Bordeaux growers — except those who can sell their wines in Japan for £1,000 a case — are now paying for their overpricing in the past, but I think this is excellent for under £8.
You can buy all the wines by the case. Or there's the sampler case, with two bottles of each, and the somewhat less expensive taster case, which includes four each of the Grachies and the Allozo, plus one each of the others. I think you'll enjoy them all.
Previous page
