This is our positively final offer for Christmas, and it’s terrific. Thanks to Lay & Wheeler we have half a dozen French classics, all of which would be very welcome on the Yuletide dinner table, or at a memorable party. What’s more, every one is generously discounted. They are not cheap wines, but they are tremendous value.
Take the magnificent 1966 Lay & Wheeler 150th Anniversary Cuvée Champagne (1). It’s made by the people at Duval-Leroy, and at £27, its list price, it is a good buy. For £22 (a £60 discount per case) it’s incredible. You can easily pay that for a non-vintage champagne from one of those companies that seem to spend more on advertising than on wine-making. This is a rich, complex champagne, offering all those wonderful biscuity, toasty, vanilla, and fresh peach flavours. It’s a wine that seems to caress the tongue (sorry, getting carried away here). They say that the test of a great champagne is that it tastes just as good when it’s gone flat; I had meant to try this out, but I couldn’t because three of us just glugged the whole lot with silly smiles on our faces. Completely delicious.
The Pouilly-Fuissé Chevrières 2005 from the Domaine de Lalande (2) is a gorgeous Burgundy, full and fat in flavour, slightly honeyed yet bone-dry, perfectly balanced and with a steely backbone. (Making it sound a bit like Daniel Craig. Apologies.) Again, this would be excellent value at the listed £17, but we’re offering it for £14.75. Acquire it.
Also reduced by more than 12 per cent is our 2006 Sancerre from Hubert Brochard (3). He has called this Aujourd’hui Comme Autrefois, which I suppose could translate, in the words of Karen Carpenter, as Yesterday Once More.
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