Simon Hoggart

The name of Robert Parker, the oenological sage of Maryland, is not often invoked by British merchants, who tend to sniff that he is too keen on overflavoured wines that lack subtlety and finesse. On the other hand, when he gives a wine an over-the-top rave, they often find they can swallow their disdain. Take this ‘First Growth’ Cabernet Sauvignon 2000 (4) from Coonawarra, made by the Parker Estate (no relation). ‘Stunning ...a super wine ...dark, opaque, ruby/purple coloured, sensational nose of wood, fruit and herbs ... full-bodied, superbly concentrated, well-balanced, just beginning to unfold. Can easily compete with the best of Bordeaux and California.’ It is indeed a wonderful wine — rich, meaty, delicious to drink now but will keep for some time.

Spectator readers are famous for being richer than most, which is why the magazine carries ads for cashmere hip flasks and handbags made from the toenails of hand-reared angora rabbits. Nonetheless, we all like a bargain, and I do my best to seek these out. Sometimes merchants will have too much of a wine which they bought because it was absolutely delicious but, lacking a famous name, didn’t sell as well as it deserved. So they offer it to us, sometimes at ludicrously low prices. We have two very good examples here from the famous old house of El Vino in Fleet Street, known as ‘Pomeroys’ to Rumpole fans. On the other hand, sometimes a wine is enormously popular, and in that case they don’t offer a discount, as with our two ‘house’ wines.

The weather may be bizarre at the moment, but when the sun comes it seems particularly warm, which is when you will crave these excellent wines. They have been selected for summer drinking by Amanda Skinner of Lay & Wheeler, one of our most popular merchants. They are perfect for parties, barbecues, picnics or as aperitifs, even for drinking indoors while the rain lashes against the windows. All are discounted on L&W’s list price. The full title of our first is (draw breath here) Prosecco dei Colli Trevigiani Frizzante Nera Spago, De Faveri, Veneto, n.v. (1). I would translate but we don’t have the space. All you need to know is that it is a luscious Prosecco, full of soft moussy bubbles and with a lovely vibrant flavour.

Here’s a very exciting offer. We start with two wines which are phenomenal value. They are from the Pierre Henri estate in southern France. This is a big enterprise (they have just taken an order for 50,000 cases from Royal Thai airlines) and you might expect the wines to be bland and mass-produced: alcoholic grape juice. Not so. The Syrah 2006 is plump and fruity, and the Chardonnay 2006 is fresh, lively and packed with flavour. There’s perfume provided by the 5 per cent Viognier that M. Henri adds when nobody is looking. These wines are sold under a different label in one of our best-known chains for £5.90 a bottle, and people still feel they’ve got a bargain.

Fashions in wine change, like everything else, so it was inevitable that when New World wines swept all before them, Europe would learn to follow the trend. Which is why in southern France, northern Spain and northern Italy these days you find much more highly flavoured wines — ‘fruit bombs’, some cynics call them — though often still showing some of the strength and backbone that comes with a less evenly sunny climate. In the past, the subtlety could be more important than the flavour; now there’s a better balance. And in turn the New World has copied that.

Order your wines by email. Now, pay attention. We have a lot of wines to get through and not much time, so if you don’t mind, I’ll crack on. All the wines come from the famous City firm of Corney & Barrow, and almost all are generously discounted. And there is the Brett-Smith Indulgence, which knocks off £6 per case if you buy two for delivery inside the M25, three cases outside. You will find many bargains here. I have selected (and marked) two mixed cases, one for summer drinking, the other a luxury case for any time. But first, C&B’s marvellous house wines, perfect for parties and everyday quaffing. The white is zesty and lemony, the red warm and full. At the pitiful price of £55.20 you can bump up your order to qualify for the Indulgence.

Order you wines online. Stone, Vine and Sun, a modestly sized operation near Winchester, keeps winning awards as the best independent wine merchant, and I’m not surprised. There’s a nimbleness to these smaller companies; chaps (or chapesses) whizz off to investigate some little half-hidden vineyard, and because they need less stock than the giants, they can snaffle undiscovered treasures without the fear of running out during the life of the list. And it helps having people who really know their wine and can sniff a bargain like a pig finding truffles. This month’s Mini-bar contains four of their best parcels. Three come from southern France which, as I have often said, now produces some of the most delicious and best-value wines in the world. Take M.

Order your wines by email. Summer is almost upon us. Ah, the cancerous barbecue smoke drifting from next door’s garden, the stinking, sweaty trains and buses, the yobs with stomachs spilling over their shorts, the never-ending football season. Sorry, didn’t mean that. It was very negative. What I meant to remind you of was the murmur of bees, the hum of gentle alfresco conversation in the sunshine, picnics under the dappled light of an apple tree, the scent of flowers and newly cut grass as dusk begins to fall. That’s what this offer is about. These are wines for summer, wines for those lovely days when you can eat every meal outdoors, when your guests come for lunch and mysteriously, sleepily, stay for supper.

Order your wines by email Prestige Agencies is part of the admirable Playford Ros company in North Yorkshire. They sell some wonderful wines from the world’s boutique vineyards, often made in tiny quantities, all created with the kind of loving attention you just don’t get in supermarket booze. Because the wineries are so small they are rarely well-known, so, like a drug dealer lurking outside the school gates, Andrew Firth has offered Spectator readers some remarkable bargains in the hope of getting you hooked. I think you will be as impressed and delighted as I was. The two whites come from Foxes Island, which is a dry ridge in the heart of the celebrated Marlborough region of New Zealand.

Order your wines by email There are many ways of buying cheap wine, though fewer means of buying good cheap wine. Supermarkets often have bargains. Recently, however, I went to a tasting by a very downmarket chain — they had Châteauneuf du Pape for £6.99 and a Chablis for £5.99. These tasted of nothing, and I was amazed at lax appellation laws which allowed them through. You can go over to France, and that works fine if you want quantity rather than quality. In a highly competitive market, the better French wines tend to be sold abroad or else by specialist merchants; the hypermarchés frequently sell stuff you would not strip paint with. Or you can go for one of those apparently amazing ‘£40 off per case — our special introductory offer!

This week’s mini-bar is from a new company, titled in the modern fashion, FromVineyardsDirect.com. It’s been set up by David Campbell, who is the publisher of the Everyman Library, and Esme Johnstone, one of the founders of Majestic Wine Warehouses. They have made up a very short list — fewer than 20 choices, though this will no doubt increase — and offer them all online or by post direct from the growers. It’s impossible to compare prices precisely, since these vary wildly according to who’s selling, but David reckons he charges roughly 20 per cent less than you would pay other merchants. Virtually all their wines are French classics, and for this mini-bar offer I have chosen some splendid bottles from Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Rhone.