Quite a few of my relatives are tight-fisted. This is a common disease throughout Britain, but it reaches epidemic levels in the North. My Lancastrian relations sweat with terror at the thought of parting with money, and will go to astonishing lengths to avoid doing so.

The worst of these – I must be careful not to identify him, as he would be happy to make a few extra pounds through a libel action – is a byword for stinginess throughout our family. Many years ago he took a brief holiday in the south of France. Before leaving he asked if there was anything I would like him to bring me back. I mentioned a wine I had been reading about, an interesting-sounding red called Bandol. He promised he would do his best.

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One of the wine drinker’s holy grails is good, cheap Burgundy. By “good” I mean typically Burgundian; something with the fleshy, gamey quality of successful Pinot Noir. By “cheap” I mean under $15 in the US or £10 in the UK.

“What you want is impossible,” I am always told, usually by people who sell the stuff. “Pinot Noir isn’t Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s a much harder grape to get right, in Burgundy or anywhere else. Any Pinot Noir costing less than $25 is a waste of money, no matter where it’s from.”

On the whole I’ve found that to be true. Most cheap Pinots are disappointing: thin, rough-edged, pleasureless. If you are determined to pay no more than $10, you would do better to spend your money on almost any other grape.

But just occasionally someone will come along and tear up all the rules. In this case the man’s name is Alain Corcia.

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One must always be careful with dry whites from Bordeaux. Far too many of them are sour, ill-bred nasties, guaranteed to leave your breath smelling like a drain. They are the unhappy result of decades of government subsidy, a system which debased much of the region’s wine and cheated everyone else both as taxpayers and consumers. (“Screwed front and back”, as a friend of mine put it.)

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I read all the time that Viognier is a highly fashionable grape. Perhaps it is, but not among anyone I know. When it is time to serve white wines, most of my friends still pour out oaky Chardonnays, citric Sauvignon Blancs and the occasional Pinot Grigio.

Nothing wrong with any of that, of course. But if you are looking for a change, Viognier is definitely a white to consider. Read the rest of this entry »

I am always suspicious when the word ‘chocolate’ is used to describe wines. The same goes for cigar boxes, leather, and all the other strange things to which wines are routinely compared. But “chocolate” seems especially dubious. If a wine really did taste of chocolate, we would surely not think this a point in its favour. We would make choking noises and call for an ambulance. Read the rest of this entry »