Windows that a fortnight ago, flung wide, would not admit so much as a stirring of air are now battened down and still, as autumn comes slithering through in cool, sharp gusts. It is quite a relief. Only after such a long and hot summer can I enjoy the incipient decay and the chills, although it is rather odd to splash through Hyde Park in the familiar damp and see sheets of sun-scarred grass gleaming like desert sand.
Naturally, the best thing is that red wine can be embraced with thoroughness. One problem: I am broke.
Apparently, for most people, lack of finances would not matter. According to the latest marketing ruse by Piat d'Or, which conducted blind-taste tests of its product (£3.99) with other wines - red contenders were Barton & Guestier 1725 Reserve du Fondateur, Rouge (£5.99) and Crozes Hermitage Les Jalets Paul Jaboulet 2000 (£11.99) - 61.5 per cent of people actually prefer the cheapest wine. This isn't such a surprise. It's the lowest common denominator syndrome. More people buy Justin Timberlake than listen to Radio 3, but that doesn't make him better. (Actually, a producer admitted to me that in Radio 3 circles, the new Timberlake album is considered really good. I asked for quotes, but the staff were all too embarrassed.)
Piat d'Or is liked for the same reasons that children are drawn to primary colours - it perks around, being fruity and easy and obvious. That's not what I hope for in a wine. Still, trying to tamp down my bottle-spend, which has splurged to £8-£9, I browsed around my local merchant, Roberson, and came out with a whole flight of Lurton wines. The Lurton dynasty has fingers in a good many winemaking enterprises. According to the Oxford Companion to Wine, it owns more wine estates in the Bordeaux area than any other family and has sent flying winemakers around the globe, from South America to Italy.
I like the neatness of the Lurton Torrontes and Pinot Gris (both £4.95) from Argentina, and this encouraged me to try the wines that the brothers Jacques and Francois make in the Pays d'Oc. I hoped the warmth of the Midi would suffuse the wines but not dominate them.
Dammit if I didn't like the most expensive one best. It is not often I get to drink wine with any age on it at all, and the Domaine des Salices Cabernet Sauvignon 1996 (£6.50) is a real change from the sort of wine you usually get at that price. It is beautifully perfumed and still, with more than a touch of faded grandeur and an elegant taste. The other good one was Les Bateaux Syrah Vin de Pays d'Oc (£4.50), which had a lovely growl of a nose but had been kept very nicely in check. I don't expect the Piat d'Or brigade would like either of these, and hurrah for that.
