And so to our final Wine Club offer of the year, courtesy of Private Cellar, the small but perfectly formed wine merchant based in Newmarket and currently in the throes of great jollification.
For not only is Private Cellar celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, it is also marking the fact that no less an authority than Jancis Robinson recently declared it to be the finest independent merchant in the UK. Quite some accolade. They are a jolly lot at Private Cellar, never shy of a party, and it must be said that the corks have barely stopped popping since.
And Private Cellar’s Amanda Skinner and Laura Taylor were certainly in high spirits and great form when they came to Spectator HQ the other day. Thirty lucky readers were invited to join us as we took over the boardroom and tasted our way through a dozen or so wines in order to whittle down the selection to the six you see here. Not so much readers’ wives, more readers’ wines, chosen by the readers for the readers.
And it was a tough selection process. All the wines showed extremely well and readers were asked to mark them as they tasted, adding comments if they wished, leaving us to tot up the scores. It being a Thursday, one or two Spectator folk with more time on their hands than is good for them drifted by, carrying a bit of a thirst, and did their best to muddy the waters. But we stuck firmly to our task and the following six wines are those that scored highest. There was only one spoilt ballot paper, that of the commercial director, Nick Spong, and this was rejected. Nick, you’ve been to tastings before. I would have thought you would have learned by now…
The Henri Chauvet Brut Blanc de Noirs NV Champagne (1) is something of a favourite at the Speccie, having featured in a number of Private Cellar’s tastings with us.
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