Jonathan Ray

We were quite the merry band. Forty or so Spectator readers — many of them veterans of our fabled Spectator Winemaker Lunches and graduates of our equally celebrated Spectator Wine School — joined me for a bespoke wine tasting at Majestic’s St. John’s Wood store last week. One impressively hardy soul polished his drinking boots especially well and joined us for the Seresin Estate Winemaker Lunch the following day too. Excellent work! We tasted almost 50 wines, all Spanish, and our six favourites are herewith offered to fellow readers at generously discounted prices. All wines were tasted blind.

We’ve four wines from Château Belles Eaux this week, one of the leading lights of the Languedoc and a long-standing favourite of mine. I remember a very jolly visit to the estate in the days when it was in the hands of AXA Millésimes, the vineyard-owning arm of AXA Insurance that’s led by the canniest of canny old foxes — Christian Seely. CS is celebrated for snapping up and turning around under-performing estates and making them great again. Given that the AXA portfolio currently includes such top-notch properties as Quinta do Noval, Ch. Pichon Baron, Ch. Suduiraut, Ch. Petit-Village, Domaine de l’Arlot and Disznókó, you will have some idea of the company Ch. Belles Eaux has been used to keeping.

We’ve not had an offer from Messrs Corney & Barrow in a while and it’s a treat to welcome them back to these pages, especially since they come wafting such scrumptious bottles under our beaks. There’s much to enjoy here as we head into supposed summer and I trust you’ll take advantage of the fabled Brett-Smith Indulgence whereby C&B’s MD, Adam Brett-Smith, knocks a few extra quid off a case for anyone buying two dozen bottles or more (on top of the existing Spectator discount that is). Get stuck in, I say. The 2017 Domaine Carette Saint-Véran ‘Les Chatenays’ (1) is from a small family-owned estate in the southernmost appellation in the Mâconnais.

We had quite a coup the other day when Dr Bill Lumsden, Director of Distilling at Glenmorangie (and also, incidentally, Ardbeg), chose the Spectator boardroom in which to launch Glenmo’s majestic new release, the Grand Vintage 1991. Apart from a handful of drinks journalists the night before, those Speccie readers lucky enough and swift enough to have grabbed a ticket were the first in the world to sample this extraordinary whisky. Dr Bill, as he’s fondly known by one and all, is one of the leading figures of the Scotch whisky industry and was named Master Distiller/Master Blender of the Year by Whisky Magazine’s Icons of Whisky Awards in 2016 and as Master Distiller of the Year by the International Whisky Competition in both 2016 and 2017. In short, he knows his onions.

Something new this week, with our first-ever offer from Naked Wines, the online retailer that’s been much in the (wine) news thanks to the proposed rebranding of Majestic. Majestic — which, along with venerable, old-school merchant Lay & Wheeler, is part of the Rowan Gormley--led Naked Wines stable — will close some of its stores while renaming its remaining ones as Naked Wines. Watch this space. Anyhow, it was Naked Wines that famously shook up the trade a dozen years ago with its novel concept, whereby so-called ‘angels’ stump up £20 a month and lob it to selected winemakers in return for decent vino, available at what NW claims to be knock-down, wholesale prices.

Everyone loves the wines of Villa Maria. Its so-called Private Bin range is hugely reliable and, heaven knows, I’ve drunk enough of it in my time. But there’s much more to VM than its entry level vino. Head further up the scale and you will find some corkers in the Cellar Selection, Platinum Selection, Reserve and Single Vineyard ranges, exquisitely made in tiny quantities. Little wonder that Villa Maria is New Zealand’s most awarded winery and that founder/owner George Fistonich was knighted for his efforts. Thanks to Mark Cronshaw of Mr Wheeler, we’ve some top examples here which — so Mark assures me — are priced as keenly as you will find anywhere else.

I’m acutely aware that we rarely offer champagne in these pages, other than the occasional treat from our beloved Pol Roger (the Speccie house pour), largely because I’ve never found one that’s good enough or well-priced enough. Well, crikey, thanks to Esme Johnstone of fromvineyardsdirect I’ve finally now found one. The Arlaux Champagne Premier Cru, Brut Grande Cuvée NV (1) fair knocked my socks off. Produced by the Arlaux family from insecticide-free Premier Cru vineyards in the Montagne de Reims, it’s first-rate fizz and no mistake. And don’t just take my word for it.

My old chum Jason Yapp is never less than chipper. Indeed, his ebullience is boundless. In springtime, this innate effervescence fair bubbles over and his enthusiasm for his wines and his distaste for spittoons are dangerously infectious. It took an age to whittle this selection down to six and I trust you enjoy my choices as much as I did and do. The 2017 Saint-Pourçain ‘Cuvée Printan-ière’ (1) comes from the upper Loire Valley and, in typical regional French style, there’s bugger all information on the front label and no label on the back to speak of. It’s only because JY insisted on wafting it under my beak and wouldn’t take no for an answer that I took any interest at all.

Chateau Musar is beloved of Spectator readers, thanks largely to my sainted predecessors — Messrs Waugh and Hoggart — both of whom adored its wines. As a result, the Speccie has forged a bond with this Lebanese winery and, owing to the diplomatic exertions of our partners at Mr Wheeler, we are in the enviable position of being able to offer the latest Musar vintages exclusively to readers before anyone else has even had a sniff or a whiff of them. The 2010 Chateau Musar White (1) is nothing if not quirky, produced from ungrafted old vines grown in the Bekaa Valley that were first planted almost 5,000 years ago. A blend of Obaideh and Merwah (and when did you last bump into them?), it’s fermented and aged partly in oak and partly in stainless steel.

We should all be firmly back in the saddle by now, with dry January but a ghastly memory. And if there are still any stragglers still toying with glasses of mineral water, I trust this selection courtesy of FromVineyardsDirect will tempt you off your high horse. Four classic French regions are represented (Burgundy, Provence, the Rhône and Bordeaux) along with an Aussie Chardonnay — (don’t panic; it’s unoaked and restrained) and a Kiwi Pinot Noir (don’t fear; it’s reasonably priced). The 2016 Pitchfork Chardonnay (1) from Margaret River, Western Australia, is the only Aussie wine that FVD sells and why bother sell others when this is so good? Margaret River, some three hours south of Perth, is beloved of wine bibbers.

He will hate me saying this, but Anthony Barton — now in his late eighties — is the grand old man of Bordeaux. Co-owner with his daughter, Lilian Barton-Sartorius, of the fabled Châteaux Léoville & Langoa Barton, Anthony represents the eighth generation of his family in Bordeaux, the links having first been forged in the 1720s when Thomas Barton (‘French Tom’) left Ireland for the Gironde to found the wine-shipping firm of Barton & Guestier. Anthony, too, left Ireland for Bordeaux (in the 1950s) and is famed for his easy-going, French-polished, Irish charm, his unshakeable integrity and for producing the most fairly priced fine wines in the region. I can also attest to the fact that he’s a forgiving sort.

Well, I’m glad that’s over. Christmas and New Year’s Eve that is. What a ghastly palaver. It went on for months and even though it’s finally done and dusted, we’re still picking pine needles out from under the blasted sofa and ploughing our way through seemingly endless bowls of defrosted stilton soup. And what on earth prompted me to make so much red cabbage and then go and freeze all that was left? I’m sick of the stuff. Still, I drank long and deep during the festivities. Rather too long and rather too deep, if I’m honest, and I’m now clinging by my fingertips to the water wagon if only to prove to Mrs Ray and my boys that I’m not a complete and utter lush.

Being a veritable martyr to Christmas Affected Doom, Depression and Despondency, I admit to feeling far from chipper. My wife says I should grow up and stop being so bloody grumpy and my boys bait me constantly by whistling ‘I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus’ and wishing me a cool Yule. Sigh. I’ve since locked myself away to self-medicate. I started with this very tasty selection from Mr Wheeler and I strongly suggest that you do too. Thanks to a couple of jolly jaunts to Spain, I’ve rekindled my fondness for the country’s vino, particularly the whites, and the 2017 Bodegas Aquitania Albarino ‘Bernon’ (1) is right up my street.

I take something of a head-in-the-sand approach to Christmas. Despite the bloody supermarkets and high-street stores trumpeting the forthcoming festivities pretty much from the August bank holiday onwards, I feel that if I ignore it, it might just go away. It never does, of course, but it’s worth a try. We’re not even into Advent yet, but I guess we have to bite the bullet and prepare ourselves. And so it is that I am delighted to present to you a Christmas-appropriate selection of own-label vino from our sainted friends at Corney & Barrow. Own-label wines are notoriously tricky to get right and if anyone has cracked it, it’s the C&B gang. The Corney & Barrow Sparkling Blanc de Blancs NV (1) is a perfect example.

Esme Johnstone, that crafty old fox at the helm of From Vineyards Direct, has been at it again. He slipped into Bordeaux in early October just as the harvest was finishing (the whisper being that 2018 is a cracking vintage, BTW) and found himself pretty much the only Brit in town. Producers and suppliers all had wine to sell and — apparently — only one person to sell to: Monsieur Johnstone de Londres. As a result, Esme came back to Blighty with bucketloads of tasty tipples. He was astonished to be offered such fine vintages at such decent prices since wines of this age and of this quality have all but disappeared from the market. We are the beneficiaries of E.J.

Esme Johnstone of FromVineyardsDirect.com is nothing if not well connected. Nobody has their ear closer to the Bordeaux ground than he does and so it is that FVD hear about and snaffle up all manner of vinous goodies that either escape the notice or the clutches of their rivals. Their celebrated ‘declassified’ or ‘defrocked’ clarets are prime examples. Hailing from some of Bordeaux’s finest estates (which, sadly, I can’t name but can hint at), the wines come from the same vineyards and winemaking teams that produce the estates’ fabled grand vins. In short, they boast impeccable pedigrees. The 2011 Saint-Estèphe (1) has unimpeachable provenance, hailing as it does from the cellar of the well-known crooner Glen Caruso.