This offer is, I think, exceptional value. Merchants occasionally overstock on first-rate wines which don’t sell off the page.
This offer is, I think, exceptional value. Merchants occasionally overstock on first-rate wines which don’t sell off the page. For example, if you saw, on the list published by the old and distinguished house Averys, something called Rare Spice Petit Verdot at £71 a case, you might wonder what on earth it was, and why you should pay nearly £6 a bottle for a grape you’ve never heard of from a winery you don’t know. But seeing it at £4.58, and being told that it is a delicious, round, spicy, violet-scented and beautifully balanced wine for cheery glugging or sipping with food, you might try it. Which is why Averys Richard Davis knocked 23 per cent off the price.
Richard offered such remarkable deals that for the first time we are proposing 12 wines. The offer is open for a month, so I’d get the sample case now, guzzle it, then buy many more of the ones you like best. They will see you through a long, happy (and wallet-friendly) time.
There is 24 per cent off the luscious Van de Merwe Chenin Blanc 2005, a rich, rounded, fruity wine from a grape the South Africans do tremendously well – better than anyone outside Vouvray. Terrific at £4.16.
Long Flat offers some of the best value of all Australian producers, and its Chardonnay 2003 is a great deal: a really good, slightly oaky wine for the same price – a fiver – as mass-produced, brand-name rubbish. Nearly a quid a bottle off.
Why Averys need to reduce the Brokenwood Harlequin 2004 by an amazing £30 a case, I do not know. It’s Australia’s answer to white Bordeaux, Sauvignon with Sémillon, at a small fraction of the price. Ignore the timidity of its regular customers and buy stacks of this luscious, fleshy bargain.
Long Flat also makes the Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2005 and Richard has taken £1.17 off each bottle of this crisp, gooseberry’n’grass goody.
To find a decent Chablis at under a tenner is remarkable. To find a good one for £8.75 (on the list at £10.95) is a near miracle. The Domaine Vrignaud 2004 is from a small-scale producer with little marketing clout. You are the beneficiary.
Rosé, and Le Clair des Hauts Lieux 2005 has ripe berry flavours and real weight. Who needs kir, when you can have this? £1 off brings it down to an embarrassing £4.50.
The reds are, I think, amazing. A Tuscan Sangiovese reduced by 40 per cent! This Pater 2002 from Frescobaldi is a house wine, and is better than most Chiantis at only £4.17 (down from £6.90) – supermarket prices for seriously upscale wines.
Monte Maguillo Garnacha 2004 is grown from old vines in northern Spain, on steep rocky slopes, in tiny quantities. But it is velvety, spicy, perfumed and gorgeous – £4.50. Rare Spice Petit Verdot 2003 – see above. Delectable. Claret fans will not believe their luck when they try Ch. Borie de Noaillan 2004 for £61.40 a case. It isn’t Latour, but it is cedary, cigary and has real backbone.
The Baudel family has been making wine for more than a century. Too often Cahors, made in the Lot Valley from the Malbec grape – Auxerrois in French – is sold too early and is tannic and stalky. This 2003 is mellow, smooth and brings in currants and raspberries. Again, wonderful value at £5.67.
Finally a superlative Oz Cabernet Sauvignon from Edwards & Chaffey. This is quite gorgeous: voluptuous, satiny, with smoke, tobacco, cedar, cherries and damsons. Worth twice the £5.86 (itself a £2.11 saving) that Averys are asking. All deliveries are free. Get in quickly!
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