WineWorld

We're back and as if by magic it is nearly Christmas or should we now call it the winter festival to avoid upsetting anybody, but then, come to think of it, only loony local councils are opposed to calling it Christmas and we don't like them anyway so Christmas it is then. As you can see during our unenforced absence we haven't decided to become politically correct and in fact we are probably worse than before.
 
Anyway back to the drink. We were going to resume the usual theme of red,white and pink in various price brackets but upon meeting the big cheese on the school run it was suggested that as we are all loaded during the current recession we write an article about fine wine...so here we go.
 
Depending on who you talk to, fine wine is normally described as wine that costs £19.99 or above and generally should be the good stuff. We think that everyone should have 1 fine bottle a month as a treat or more if you can afford it, but it really needs to be seen as a special thing or you will fall into the trap of drinking really good stuff every day or so and then you end up spending more and more and the credit card bill can add up. I know this from experience as we eat food in our house every day and at the end of the month the bill is very large and quite often there isn't any money left for wine..shock horror.
 
Wine like food is a very subjective subject as what we like you may not and so on. I am firmly of the belief that you should drink what you like regardless of anyone else's opinion but in general the more you spend on wine the better the quality becomes. There is however we believe a cut off point where the palate cannot really distinguish between one bottle and another and we think it's around the £50 mark...some would say lower. A village wine from Burgundy, say a Gevrey Chambertin, will cost you around £25 and should be ready to drink after 4or 5 years. It will be fruit driven not too complex, light oak....think of a critic swirling the glass and picking up notes of whatever. However if you buy a premier or grand cru from Burgundy , say Volnay 1er cru you are looking at £35 plus but the depth of flavour is more noticeable, the wine is longer in the palate ie you can taste it for a long time after you've drunk it and it will keep for 10 years plus. Don't tell the wife but we are probably going for a 1999 Volnay 1er cru En Caillerets as one of the wines this Christmas with a claret of some description as yet not chosen and possibly not yet bought or perhaps that Marques de Caceres Gran Reserva 1985 that's been lurking in the cellar for years...hmm.
 
For those of you unsure what claret is, it is merely the term for red wine from Bordeaux, normally referring to wine from what is called the left bank. Loosely speaking Bordeaux is split into three sections,the left bank comprising the Medoc,Haut Medoc and such famous villages / areas as Margaux, St Estephe, St Julien, Pauillac to name but a few ...the right bank where you find Pomerol and St Emilion and an area called Entre Deux Mers where the Gironde estuary splits and the Garonne river and the Dordogne River go in opposite directions hence the name which means ' between two seas '.

 

This whole area is the source of the largest proportion of fine wine in the world.
 
If Cabernet Sauvignon is your thing... think cassis, cigar box, pencil lead, mint and many other smells.. all subjective of course... then this is the area for you. But be warned as these wines can be very tannic when young.. tannin gives a drying sensation to parts of the mouth  and are best at 6+ years old... they can last almost for ever in some caes... well, up to 100 years for the very best such as Lafite, Latour, Mouton Rothschild, Chateau Margaux and Haut Brion. These particular wines are called 1st growths from a classification in 1855, last for ages and are the most expensive £250 plus per bottle.
 
If you are more interesting in plummy styles then look to the right bank where merlot is the dominant grape and wines such as Petrus, Angelus, Le Pin and Trotanoy are some of the ridiculously expensive wines. The top wines will take a few years to come to their best.. Petrus at 10 years old is still young... I believe the early 80's are drinking nicely at the moment but then again 1945 was such a good year !
 
For the majority of us right bank wine at 5 + years old will be fine and will give very enjoyable drinking but obviously there is more to wine than Bordeaux.
 
The biggest problem for the UK wine drinker is that the weakness of the currency against the euro has driven European wine prices up so wines that were £10 say 5 years ago will now cost £20+ due to inflation and currency weakness. The average UK consumer is only willing to cough up as little as possible for alcohol of any description which is why 3 for a tenner is appealing. Trust me though, it is better to spend more per bottle and if necessary drink less as in the long run both your palate and your stomach will thank you...there is only so much vinegar a stomach can take. I read an article a year or so ago that said  for most wines if the bottle costs you £4 then the value of the wine is 30p, the rest being production costs and tax... tax is just under £2 per bottle. If you can buy 3 for a tenner then someone somewhere is being screwed and you know that it won't be a supermarket.
 
We have decided at home this Christmas that the usual Taittinger rose champagne is being replaced by Chapel Down rose and not solely because it's half the price. Pink and fizzy is the drink of choice at family celebrations and at the father in laws most recent birthday we tried the Chapel Down pink and everyone thought how good it was and suggested that as patriotic Kentish folk we should do our best for the local economy... so Chapel down it is then.... in this case by spending less per bottle we can get two for the price of one. Don't be misled into thinking that because it's English it's not as good as stuff from France cos believe me it's better.
 
Fine wine... yes we're back to that again, is an interesting subject as it has such a snob value with some saying that only the best will do whereas the rest of us are more reasonable and know that we can't afford the best but sometimes second best will do. The enjoyment should be in knowing that you are drinking something good at a good price rather than the best because only you can afford it. I was talking to someone the other day who had a very expensive bottle of 1983 Grange from Australia... value about £240 and he said he couldn't drink it because it was worth so much money. It turned out that it was a gift from 20 years ago anyway, so we suggested Christmas lunch this year. We wait to see as after all it's a bit like winning a Ferrari and not driving it in case you crash it.
 
Is it worth spending alot of money on port is a question we were asked last week. To be honest we rarely spend more than £15/20 as, if you think about it, it's usually drunk at the end of a meal when your palate is not at its best and more often than not there's cheese about which kills everything anyway. Yes there are some classic matches like Port and Stilton and sauternes and Rocquefort but genereally speaking finding a cheese and wine match that really works is not easy.
 
So there you have it... As it's Christmas  have a bottle of Kentish fizz to start the day with your scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, wash down the turkey with something red that costs about £20 and is 5+ years old and drink PX sherry with Christmas pud...if you don't know what that is ask your local wine merchant...no not a supermarket thank you...and try anything you like with cheese as maybe one day you will find the perfect match and can enlighten the rest of us still scrabbling aroung in the dark !
 
Happy Christmas to one and all and just remember one thing.... try and buy your wine from a merchant as the supermarkets have us all by the short and curlies for everything else !

 

Nic Scott

 

 

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You can order all these fine wines along with lots of other good things and have them delivered to your door in time for Christmas by clicking the Majestic Wine logo below.