SPECTATOR WINE CLUB
Cary Grant and other stars
Auberon Waugh
LAY & WHEELER have come up with an offer which includes three stars — numbers 3, 4 and 5. This is a very rare achievement by any of our suppliers. They have also allowed reductions from their price lists of such generosity as can only make one gasp and rub one's eyes. I am not sure whether it is something to do with global warming, El Nino or the partial collapse of Far Eastern economies, but it has resulted in an offer of extraordinarily good value, with the mixed case working out at £64.24 or £5.36 the bot- tle delivered.
The first white, Rio Claro's 1997 sauvi- gnon blanc from the Maipo Valley in Chile(1), could easily have been a star, and probably would have been in any other offer, but the truth is that people are get- ting used to the excellent colonial and southern sauvignons of which this one is an excellent example at £4.39 (down from £4.99) the bottle. I found it delicious, with its massive fresh smell and its aroma of apples. One of the great blessings is that you can buy good wine pretty cheap if you are prepared to look around, or get some- one else to look around for you. I don't think that many will be able to beat this wonderfully strong and fragrant sauvignon.
The Macon-Villages 1996 from Olivier Leflaive(2) is not a star but is amazingly cheap at £5.49, having come down £1.50 from the list price of £6.99. Leflaive is, of course, an extremely respectable name in southern Burgundy and I would like to feel that punters will find this a good, solid white burgundy, but one panel member took against it, writing 'more steel than but- ter' angrily in his tasting notes. It might be wiser for club members to taste it first in the mixed case to make sure they like it before ordering.
Now for the stars. Jean-Pierre Grossot's Chablis of 1995(s) can't be faulted. Fra- grant, high-class, silky, it is a Cary Grant among wines, a fine example of what Chablis can do, here reduced from the list price of £8.98 to £7.50 — a reduction of £1.48 per bottle. Anybody who can afford £90 for a case would be mad not to buy it.
I am no expert in Italian wines, but Roxan's Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 1996(a) You can see Dr Dolittle privately or Dr Dolots on the NHS.' struck me as a high-class, even rather grand, wine by any standards and at £4.29 (reduced from £4.75) it seems a clinch. One does not approve of blindtasting or decanter jokes, of course, but it smells like an intensely concentrated Hermitage in its prime. The great thing is to get on and drink it, thanking your lucky stars to have found such a good wine so cheap.
Next, the superstar which had the whole panel gasping with pleasure at its wonder- ful, rich, sweet farmyard smell and magnifi- cent complexity of tastes. In the mouth it is a very ripe farmyard. It is pure cabernet sauvignon, but I could not help reflecting that even from Spain a wine of this quality would probably cost about £15 nowadays. Chile's Rio Claro Cabernet Sauvignon 1996(i) is a major discovery, even if it is too strong and uplifting to drink every day. To keep a £4.55 (reduced from £4.99) wine for treats may seem odd, but it is so strong and so assertive that it might destroy the subtler pleasures of claret.
Our last wine, a 1995 Château Grand Sodlion from Moueix(6), cannot have a star because I feel it needs a bit of time to soft- en up, but it is a sound, well-concentrated claret with what promises to be impressive qualities in the future. Cellar it at a slightly warmer temperature than is usually recom- mended for nine months and then try it again, but do not forget it is there. The price of £5.95 a bottle (reduced from £6.99) is very reasonable for a good claret in nine months' time, but wasted on something tired or dead in five years. In its present state, it is more of a Rock Hudson than a Cary Grant, but I think I glimpse its hidden secrets.
The mixed case, as I have said, works out at £5.36 the bottle. It is a good offer. Lay & Wheeler should be congratulated.
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