Jonathan Ray Jonathan Ray

Wine Club 10 November

issue 10 November 2018

Esme Johnstone, that crafty old fox at the helm of From Vineyards Direct, has been at it again. He slipped into Bordeaux in early October just as the harvest was finishing (the whisper being that 2018 is a cracking vintage, BTW) and found himself pretty much the only Brit in town. Producers and suppliers all had wine to sell and — apparently — only one person to sell to: Monsieur Johnstone de Londres.

As a result, Esme came back to Blighty with bucketloads of tasty tipples. He was astonished to be offered such fine vintages at such decent prices since wines of this age and of this quality have all but disappeared from the market. We are the beneficiaries of E.J.’s canniness, and if you’ve been pondering what to sluice the festive fowl down with this Christmas then I would suggest that you ponder no further.

Famously, 2000 was a 10/10 vintage and one in which the big names sell for stratospheric prices.

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