Wine Club 13 October

Everyone loves the wines of Maison M. Chapoutier, one of the great names of the Rhône Valley. The company was founded in Tain-l’Hermitage in 1808 and has passed from father to son ever since, with Michel Chapoutier the current boss.

The company makes excellent wine in almost every appellation in the Rhône and — Michel, being a proud lefty keen to ensure that the good things in life are accessible to all — Chapoutier’s wines are always among the most keenly priced in the region.

Michel is also dynamic, forward-thinking, obsessive, outspoken, mercurial, innovative, single-minded, easily bored and just a little bonkers. Some years ago I spent a few days with him and simply couldn’t keep up with whatever was fizzing around his head. His conversation ranged between the intricacies of biodynamic winemaking (he was an early adopter), the nicety of putting Braille on his wine labels (‘Why doesn’t everyone?’), the merits of Saint-Saëns over Franck and Baudelaire over Verlaine, the beauty of a fine cassoulet, the wickedness of the Taliban and why nobody should ever ask the alcoholic strength of a wine (‘It’s as bad as asking a lady her age’).