Wine club - Roger Scruton has the perfect red for rodent pie
Published 21 March 2005
It takes a rich, fragrant red to relieve the disappointment of rodent pie
Chancellors of the exchequer in the British tradition have never thought about anything very much except cigarettes and alcohol. Budgets were composed by adjusting the taxes on those two items in order to pay for whatever deficit might be reported by the boffins, the assumption being that people would go on drinking and smoking regardless. This practice has been undermined by the lamentable advent of chancellors with brains, such as the current incumbent. As the dread day approaches, the postmodern Chancellor, instead of recalling the British people and their reliable vices, begins to speculate about more volatile things, such as interest rates, FTSE indices, PBRs, GDPs and other matters so bewildering that only initials can encompass them. Meanwhile, the rest of us wonder whether we are spending too much, or not enough, on wine. Corney & Barrow is assisting our meditations with two contrasting cases, one ridiculously cheap, the other seriously expensive.
Drinking began with our illegal mouse hunt. After a hard day trying to put up the quarry, constantly losing the scent, and hounds rioting after rabbits, we finally had a strong line by Iris
Pond. Hounds followed this to a stick pile, under which a mouse
was sleeping. The kill was instantaneous, and accompanied not by whoops but by a sigh of relief that, after so many trials, we had succeeded in breaking the world's most ridiculous law. We turned for home, tired and exhilarated, to celebrate with the Blanc de Blancs. This is bottle-fermented from a mixture of grapes including the Ugni Blanc (somehow appropriate for a mouse hunt), and the followers took it for real champagne - which, I suppose, is what you must expect from the criminal classes. As we discovered when the guests had gone, however, the Delamotte 1997 (no trace of Ugni here) is beyond praise.
Of the three cheap bottles, the real winner is the Chardonnay from the Cotes Catalanes, which is crisp but subtle, with a genial afterglow. This is what you should serve at your next pre-prandial party: it sharpens the brain without burdening the digestion. It was interesting to compare Olivier Leflaive's first-growth Puligny-Montrachet which, though five times the
price, is a worthwhile item on the budget of those who can afford
it. This has perfect balance, the acidity opening the palate to the long, buttery flow like a cheeky putto lifting the robes of Venus. Les Referts lies on clay-rich land adjoining the great Meursault vineyard of Les Charmes, and it is as charming as its neighbour.
After such a prelude, our rodent pie was something of a disappointment, albeit relieved by the fragrant Chateau Armens, a bottle of which was sent to No 11 on Budget Day, together with a freshly stuffed mouse.
Post this article to
We want to encourage people to comment on our content and to exchange views with other readers and hope this will be done on a courteous basis. However, if you encounter posts which are offensive please let us know by emailing comments@newstatesman.co.uk and we will take swift action where necessary.
