SPECTATOR WINE CLUB
Snobbery has its price
Auberon Waugh
Acertain type of Spectator reader gives a sigh of relief every time I announce an all-French offer. One has to please one's customers, but I find myself increasingly irritated by this. Snobbery is all very well, but it has its price. The sim- ple truth about the French is that they are getting better and better at producing really good cheap wines from classic grapes in the south, but despite the much- bruited strength of the pound, their clas- sic wines have priced themselves out of the English market, or at any rate the market of decent upper- middle-class English folk like ourselves. Nobody works hard enough in Britain. Under these circumstances, it is mad to ignore the wonderful things which are being done with grapes in other parts. Third World and colonial wines are get- ting better with every year that passes.
In this offer, the two cheapies come from France — the red(4) strikes me as a particu- lar bargain at £3.65 delivered — but the list covers four continents to achieve an aver- age price (despite the painfully expensive New Zealand chardonnay(3) at £5.60). You could not begin to buy equivalent quality in France, Italy or even Spain at under £9.50 the bottle. The simple truth about Europe is that its better, grander wines are hideously overpriced. So our first white(') is a new wine cooked up by the Plaimont co-operative from unknown Gascony white grapes — proba- bly not ugni blanc. But who cares what grapes were used? It is a nice, clean, fruity wine, reduced from £4.65 to £4.32. Every- body will enjoy it as a late summer indul- gence — scarcely even a treat, at this price. The next, Brampton 1996 Sauvignon Blanc from Stellenbosch(2), is a wonderfully sunny drink for those in a sauvignon mood — a farouche, leafy experience with more bounce than the new cold-fermented sauvi- gnons from Bordeaux and Bergerac, nice though they are. I liked it a lot, and so has everybody else I tried it on. The Marlborough chardonnay, Le Grys(3), is not a cheap indulgence, despite having a pound knocked off, from £8.95 to £7.95 the bottle. I can only say it has all the qualities of a first-class Meursault at three times the price, with an overpowering freshness and lightness of touch and a rich- ness which never cloys. New Zealand is chiefly famous for its sauvignons, and Aus- tralian chardonnay is undeservedly held in low esteem by those who over-indulged in the cheaper examples when young. But this wine is a serious, all-time champion and the rest of the world can drop dead. One member of the panel, amazed by the price of the Castel Freres 1995 Cabernet from the Aude(4), confessed she would never buy a wine so cheap, would not dare pay £3.65 for a bottle, and was correspond- ingly delighted to have discovered that she loved it, as did every other member of the panel. It is an excellent, light, late summer wine, and brilliantly priced, but one has to accept with cheap wine that not everybody will like it. Those that don't will not have wasted much money. Perhaps it would be a good idea to try the mixed case first.
I often fight shy of young French merlot, although there are those who adore the taste. Our second red wine(5), the Chilean 1996 merlot from Rio Claro, in the Maipo Valley, has none of the rats' tails which I associate with too young Pomerol or St Emilion. It is also half the price at £4.97 (reduced from £5.69) for a high-class con- centration of good fruit which I would have thought all serious wine-drinkers would recognise.
Finally, a cabemet/merlot from Bramp- ton(6) in Stellenbosch, which anyone who is prepared to forget snobbish feelings about South Africans and the funny way they talk will recognise immediately as a very superi- or wine. It is quite alcoholic at 13 per cent by vol., but none the worse for that. The price of £6.55, stingily reduced from £6.99, may not seem a gift until you realise what the Americans, Dutch and Japanese would pay for it if it had a premier grand cru St Emilion label — probably something near- er £40 the bottle.
The mixed case, as I have said, works out at £5.60. On this occasion, it might be a good idea to go for the mixed case first. I think all the wines are good and even the Marlborough chardonnay is good value, but where unknown names are concerned, it might be better for people to decide for themselves.
Previous page
