Wine Club 3 October

The shifting sands of this blasted coronavirus — or, rather, the shifting sands of the government’s response to it — are driving us all mad. Having been lectured over the summer by Boris and co. on the importance of getting back to work, taking public transport, going to the local and eating out, we’re now told what selfish, virus-spreading twits we are and that we must be in bed by 10 p.m. or else. Folk at one end of our tiny island are told to do one thing and folk at the other end something completely different. It’s utterly bonkers and deeply confusing.

Some things never change, however, and lovers of fine, you’ll-never-guess-where-this-is-from vino will be heartened by our annual offer of so-called ‘defrocked’ clarets courtesy of FromVineyardsDirect. Thank goodness for little pleasures.

These wines are the over-production of some of the finest chateaux in all Bordeaux, and I mean the finest. In some years, some grapes grow more plentifully than others and there is a bit too much Merlot, say, for the blends that make up the estates’ grands vins. These surplus wines — made by the same winemaking teams, in the same cellars, with the same care and attention — used to be sold discreetly to the top restaurants of France until that canny wine-hound Esme Johnstone snuffled them out and starting nabbing them for his customers. I can’t name the chateaux but I can hint.

‘Aha, cute ale snug!’ you might exclaim on spying the elegant chateau — overlooked by the three churches of Saint Emilion — that’s responsible for the 2017 St Emilion (1). We offered this very wine last year to hoots of joy and it’s even better now. It’s still young but, with plenty of juicy Merlot to the fore, it’s made to be enjoyed in its youth and considering the same vintage of the grand vin is currently £3,340 a case, it’s something of a snip.