SPECTATOR WINE CLUB

Is it worth it?

Auberon Waugh

Every time I approach this task nowa- days, I am appalled anew at the prices. All the joy has gone out of offering wines when a village Chablis costs £7.20 the bottle. We must constantly adjust, I suppose, but this period of low inflation and low interest rates has been the worst I can remember for wine prices. Where one of the great pleasures in life was once to be found in reading wine merchants' catalogues, now I read them with a hollow groan. I have tast- ed this Chablis(1) three times since last April. Although it is quite full and without any of the waterish finish you can get from village Chablis, I don't think it will improve. Is it worth £7.20 the bottle? It depends how you value the pound. You won't get it any cheaper. The Tricastin 1993(2) was more liked by me than by the other panellists, but I found it a fresh and lively wine at £4.25, easy to gulp — a bit stalkier than you might expect from the Rh6ne, almost like a cabernet franc from the Loire, but with more oomph. A light and fruity wine, but with plenty of vitality. The other panellists came round on a second tasting. It is well priced and unusual, this wine, and I am glad to have found it.

Those who remember the wonderful 1989 Chateau de la Meuliere, which I offered last year, should not be put off by the vulgar theory that those chateaux which excelled in 1989 failed to excel in 1990, and vice versa. I tasted this Meuliere 1990(3) against the 1989, and it is altogether firmer, meatier and with a longer life ahead of it, but also fruitier for drinking now. At £5.95 it is unmistakably one of the stars of the offer — a beautiful, strong mouthful of claret. I don't know where Monsieur Foures' vineyards are at Cenac in the Gironde, but I should imag- ine that the world will soon be beating a path to his door. In fact, this wine will be one of the stars of the year. I am laying down large quantities, both in Somerset and London.

The Vacqueyras Montpezat 1992(4) is an altogether more serious wine than the Tric- astin as its armorially embossed bottle and price of £6.45 proclaim. I have tended to treat Vacqueyras as a cheap but worthy substitute for Gigondas, itself a bargain version of Chateauneuf. But this one is obviously a super-Vacqueyras: beautiful dragon's blood colour, opulent, clean, self- assured taste. Nobody would mistake this for a Gigondas or a Chateauneuf, but it is an excellent wine in its own right. One member of the panel suggested it should be drunk with boiled mutton, but I can't think why. It would make tripe look cheerful. The year 1991 is not celebrated in the southern Rh6ne, but Gabriel Liogier's Chateauneuf du Pape Montjoie(5) of that year possesses all the fruit and concentration of the more famous 1990 with less tannin.

It is a wonderfully strong, fruity drink with a slightly dryer smell than the 1990 (which I have laid down for at least five years) but unquestionably for drinking now, and that is the glory of it. I don't think £7.50 is a steep price for this high-class, classic wine which also happens to be com- pletely delicious. Finally, a Burgundy. Ladoix(6) is a new appellation which has been carved out of the Cotes de Beaune, for some reason underneath Aloxe-Corton. Hugh Johnson recommends it as a place to watch for bar- gains, but I am coming to the conclusion that a Burgundy bargain is an oxymoron. At £7.95 it is much too pale a colour for my taste, but then one has to say that it has a very proper new-style Burgundy smell, that its pale colour belies a full, fra- grant and rich taste which may have noth- ing to do with the older Burgundy taste, but which is utterly delicious nevertheless.

I first tasted it last April and thought it needed a little time, but now I feel it is ready to drink and probably won't improve. If I were dead I would be turn- ing in my grave to think of people drink- ing high-class Burgundy when it is less than three years old, but as I am still alive I suppose the only thing is to get on with it. A price of £7.95 may be reasonable, but I don't see how they can expect to go on charging twice that amount for wine of the same quality from Corton, a few hun- dred yards away. Still no doubt they will. The mixed case(7) works out at exactly £6.55 the bottle. Wish it could have been less, but the last four are high-class bot- tles, all ready to drink, while the Vac- queyras(4) and above all the Meuliere(3) will also keep.

ORDER FORM SPECTATOR WINE CLUB

c/o Longford Wines Longford Farmhouse, Spithurst, Barcombe, Lewes, E. Sussex BN8 5ED Tel & Fax: (0273) 401497

White

Price No. Value

Chablis 1993, Pierre Andre 12 Bots. £86.40 Red

COteaux du Tricastin 1993, Cuvee

Privee, Pierre Andre 12 Bois £51.00

Chateau de la Meuliere 1990

Premieres Cotes de Bordeaux 12 Bois. £71.40

Vacqueyras Montpezat 1992

Gabriel Liogier 12 Hors. 0740

Chateauneuf du Pape Monqoie 1991

Gabriel Liogier 12 Bots. £90.00

Ladoix, Clos des Chagnots, 1992,

Bourgogne Rouge, Pierre Andre 12 Bots. £95.40 Mixed

Mixed case, two of each 12 Rots. £78.60

TOTAL (Cheque enclosed)

Please send wine to: NAME ADDRESS POSTCODE TELEPHONE Prices include VAT and delivery on the British mainland. Cheques should be made payable to The Spec- tator Wine Club and sent with order. This offer, which is subject to stock availability, closes on 28 April 1995.