Jonathan Ray

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.

Everyone loves the wines of Maison M. Chapoutier, one of the great names of the Rhône Valley. The company was founded in Tain-l’Hermitage in 1808 and has passed from father to son ever since, with Michel Chapoutier the current boss. The company makes excellent wine in almost every appellation in the Rhône and — Michel, being a proud lefty keen to ensure that the good things in life are accessible to all — Chapoutier’s wines are always among the most keenly priced in the region. Michel is also dynamic, forward-thinking, obsessive, outspoken, mercurial, innovative, single-minded, easily bored and just a little bonkers. Some years ago I spent a few days with him and simply couldn’t keep up with whatever was fizzing around his head.

As we all know, getting the first drink of the day right can be a tricky business, not least because what you fancy at noon will be very different from what you want at 7 p.m. On either occasion, you need to tread carefully, with nothing too dry, too sweet or too alcoholic. Too dry and you shock the taste buds and everything tastes overly acidic; too sweet and you bugger up your palate for later. And as for the alcohol, well, you’re just getting your eye in, so take it easy. You can always turn it up to 11 later if necessary.

Everyone loves the wines of Louis Latour and I’m delighted to offer such a tasty selection of them here, particularly — thanks to the good offices of Mr Wheeler — at such appetising prices. Louis Latour was founded in 1797 and remains family-owned, with the 11th generation represented by 54-year-old general manager, Louis-Fabrice Latour, who, until his son Louis was born, was known simply as ‘Young Louis’. Maison Louis Latour not only makes wine from its own 50-hectare domaine in the Côte d’Or but also from grapes and wines bought in from other long-standing growers. Quality is everything. I’ve always loved and trusted the company’s wines and whenever I spy a Louis Latour bottle on a wine list I know I’m in safe hands.

We were going to run an entirely French offer this week courtesy of FromVineyardsDirect, but I couldn’t resist the 2017 Esterházy Estoras Grüner Veltliner (1) from Austria. I used to drink buckets of GV with my late godmother, the novelist and sometime contributor to this magazine, Sarah Gainham. I’ve never lost my taste for it. This example, produced for the Esterházy princes in Eisenstadt by the celebrated Joseph Pusch, is well up to snuff and my godmother — who single-handedly (apart from my occasional help) kept her local winzer Josef Pimpel in business — would have loved it. It’s crisp yet creamy with a whisper of pepper, spice and nuts, and is delectably food-friendly. It whisks me right back to happy days by the Danube. £11.

We’re clearing the decks and having a late summer sale — or rather our partner Mr Wheeler is. Fill your boots! Mr W needs to make room for new vintages and new lines and is kindly offering Speccie readers exclusive first dibs on the following wines, each one of which I’ve tasted and each one of which I can heartily recommend, especially at these knockdown prices (my favourites marked * make up the mixed case). Anyway, enough waffling, I’ve got 18 wines to tell you about so I had best get cracking! 2014 Les Forts de Bories-Azeau Corbières Rouge (1) A full-on, spicy Languedoc red. Needs drinking up but is currently very moreish. £8 down from £9.50.

Our Spectator Winemaker Lunches are extremely cheery affairs, held in the boardroom at 22 Old Queen Street. There are never more than 16 of us — a dozen or so readers plus the winemaker and your humble correspondent — and, during a cold, four-course Forman & Field lunch, we enjoy around six or seven different wines. Spittoons are scoffed at and consumption runs at an average and rather impressive one bottle per head, despite which I’m delighted to report that we’ve never run dry. We do sometimes resort to flicking the lights at meal’s end, though, just to remind readers they have homes to go to.

My old mate Jason Yapp was chirpier than ever when we met to taste his wines the other day. Never knowingly under-ebullient, Jas (despite the whisperings of a hangover) had an extra spring to his step having just bagged three gongs at the previous night’s International Wine Challenge, namely that of Rhône Specialist Wine Merchant of the Year and ditto for both the Loire and Languedoc-Roussillon. We tried some delicious wines together and these six were my favourites, all ideal for mid-summer sipping. The 2017 Domaine l’Ancienne Cure (1) is an organically farmed, un-oaked blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon from Bergerac, south west France.

My dear old alma mater Berry Bros & Rudd broke with Spectator Wine Club tradition recently by offering a six-bottle box rather than the more usual dozen bottles. It was such a hit with readers that they asked to do it again this week. Needless to say, the thirstier among you desperate for a full dozen can simply sign up for two cases. I strongly recommend that you do, since the wines — a delightfully eclectic selection — are first rate and, given that Berry’s are offering free delivery and have knocked a bit off here and there, there’s a saving of some £20 to be had on the normal RRP. The 2017 Gavi di Gavi, Bric Sassi (1) from Roberto Sarotto in Piedmont is a beautifully made, easy-drinking, single vineyard, 100 per cent Cortese.

In the first of a series of very special offers, our drinks editor Jonathan Ray here describes our recent Spectator Winemaker Lunch with Anthony and Olive Hamilton Russel, as we offer a small parcel of very keenly-priced 2017 Hamilton Russell Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, arguably the finest in all South Africa. It was a very jolly (and really quite thirsty) bunch of 20 or so readers who gathered together in the Balcon Restaurant of the Sofitel London St. James Hotel a few weeks ago, there to enjoy one of our fabled Spectator Winemaker Lunches.