November/December 2007

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NEWSLETTER FOR MEMBERS OF THE WINE SOCIETY

Stocking fillers

The wine buyers’ pick of

our selection of accessories;

all of which would make

ideal last-minute gifts or

stocking fillers.

One very special bottle

Broadcaster and author

Andrew Jefford shares

his reflections on a

special bottle and asks

which wines are the

most beautiful.

How to buy … Rhône

Marcel Orford-Williams,

The Society’s Rhône buyer,

gives an appellation by

appellation guide to the

wines of the Rhône Valley.

If you have any questions or comments about societynews, or would like to see something included, please e-mail: societynews@thewinesociety.com or write to: societynews, The Wine Society, Gunnels Wood Road, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, SG1 2BG

Christmas at home on the range

Fortified by a seasonal

glass, Janet Wynne Evans

celebrates the lost genre of

the oven owner’s manual.

4

Week before ChristmasNormal business hours apply. Both Showroom and Member Services will beopen on Sundays in the run up to Christmas; see above.

Christmas Eve Closed from 4pm on Monday 24th December

Christmas week Closed 25th and 26th DecemberNormal opening hours from Thursday, 27th December

New Year’s Eve Closed from 4pm on Monday 31st December

New Year week Business as usual from Wednesday 2nd January

Montreuil The showroom in Montreuil will operate normal businesshours until 6pm on Saturday 22nd December. It will remainclosed until 8.30am on Monday 14th January 2008.

Even the most dedicated of Italophiles would agree that the wines of Italy are some of thehardest to grasp. “How is it possible to make sense of all those grapes, places, DOC and IGTnames, not to mention vineyards and brands, most of which, to the average non-Italian-speaker, are so difficult to pronounce?” asks wine writer and author Nicolas Belfrage MW.Using five pairs of contrasting wines (eight reds and two whites) from across the peninsulaand 24 pages of commentary, Belfrage helps untangle the mysteries by reference to the mostimportant factor of all: the wine in the bottle. Ref N-LC07402, £119 (a saving of £28).

The Rhône too needs a helpful guide. Wine writer Natasha Hughes explains thedifferences between the appellations of the north and south by guiding membersthrough four reds and two whites from Condrieu,Rasteau, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Crozes-Hermitageand Cornas. Ref N-LC07401, £75.

This year’s Christmas Gifts brochure also includes acase for wine explorers. The Grape Discoveries casebrings together wines from around the worldfrom 12 different grape varieties. Notes suppliedwith the case explain the differences to be foundin the wines and the case comes complete with thelatest edition of Hugh Johnson’s Pocket GuidetoWine – essential reading for any wine lover. Ref N-XC0737, £85.

Christmas2007Sunday openingBoth Member Services and theShowroom will be open on Sundays inthe run up to Christmas: MemberServices from 10am to 5pm and theShowroom (December only) from11am to 4pm. For more informationon opening times over the Christmasperiod see below.

New gift cardsRather thanprintingmembers’ giftmessages onthe adviceslip, this yearwe haveintroduced agift card to beincluded inthe case. When placing your order,simply provide a gift message, notforgetting to say who the gift is from,and it will be printed onto the giftcard. We hope that members willappreciate this service but regret that itis no longer possible to include yourown cards in gift cases.

Last order dates for ChristmasRepublic of Ireland – 5pm, Saturday1st December

Pre-orders for Montreuil – 9pm,Monday 3rd December

Wines out of Reserves – 9pm,Tuesday 4th December

Corporate gifts – 9pm, Friday 7thDecember

Applications for membership – 5pm,Sunday 16th December

Christmas UK delivery – 5pm,Sunday 16th December

Normal business hoursThe Cellar ShowroomMon to Fri 10.00am to 6.00pm

Thursday 10.00am to 7.00pm

Saturday 9.30am to 5.30pm

Member ServicesMon to Fri 8.30am to 9.00pm

Saturday 9.00am to 5.00pm

Montreuil showroomMon to Sat 8.30am to 6.00pm

Christmas opening timesWEB WATCH

Browsing for Christmas giftsThe Society’s selection ofChristmas gifts, wineaccessories and stockingfillers has been set out in aseparate section of thewebsite to make searching forChristmas gifts easier. Select‘Gifts’ from the menu on theleft-hand side of the screen.

This year, for the first time, it is alsopossible to order Christmas casescontaining smoked salmon and Stiltononline. As these cases contain freshfoods they are despatched directly fromour suppliers in December; earlierdelivery is not possible and orders forthese cases need to be made separately.

Order tastings tickets onlineMembers can now order tickets for tastings and events on the website. Select the Tastings and Events tab from the top of the page to be taken to the tastings’ area of the website.

New Tasting Casesgreat gifts for inquisitive drinkersThe Christmas List saw the introduction of two new Exploration

cases – The Society’s Guide to Italy and The Society’s Guide to the

Rhône (page 10), chosen to help those who wish to learn more

about the wines they drink. They can be used for proper home

‘tutored tastings’, or just as an excuse for a good party with

friends and family, and make an original gift for any wine lover.

societynews November/December 2007

This is the question of the moment, fortwo reasons. The first is that modernviticulture and winemaking techniquesallow qualities formerly only in nature’sgift to be lavished on any wine wechoose. We can engineer anaccumulation of qualities – by cuttingyields, by pushing ripeness, by cold-soaking, by concentrating, by adjusting.

The second reason is that the rise ofwine criticism in market-making hasgiven the individual palate unparalleledsignificance. Any individual palate musttake a position on our initial question;thousands (of people, of dollars) mayfollow. It’s easier to praise accumulationthan disposition. Accumulation can beobjectively assessed; disposition is moresubjective. As a result, the hypothesisruns, we are now in an age wherewines with the richest accumulation ofqualities eclipse those which disposetheir qualities most artfully.

The bottle I have open in front of me isillustrative. It would struggle to meritmore than 86 points or 14.5 pointsfrom the majority of assessors: it simplydoes not have a rich enoughaccumulation of qualities. But itmarshals its qualities with what, for me,is a magnetic charm. The same producerwill have made other wines from thesame vineyard in the same year with aricher accumulation of qualities, but I am almost sure I would like them less.

There are, as usual, human analogies. Wedon’t love only those who are beautifulor intelligent or athletic, though whenwe examine or judge or employ ourfellow humans, these are the qualitiesthat elevate the few above the many.Catwalk models tend to exude vacancy;the intellectually brilliant may chill orrepel. Each becomes truly lovable only intheir more undignified and falliblemoments. It is the less-than-perfect, thespeckled, the all-too-human who tugour love. Show me a wine drinker whohas always meekly subscribed to thegreatness of every “great” wine he or shehas been served, and I will show you alabel drinker. The truth is that “great”wines, many burdened by anaccumulation of qualities, are not alwaysbeautiful, whereas little wines (finely

disposed) can touch perfection withmomentary ease.

The one-word summary of thedilemma is Kabinett. This wine isa Kabinett: the 2001 BernkastelerBadstube from Dr H Thanisch (ErbenMüller-Burggraef). Kabinett for me isa magic word. What I feel when Iapproach a good or great Kabinett,corkscrew in hand, is akin to steppinginto woodland after a month in the city.Suddenly, the great burden of theunnecessary is lifted; suddenly, I am in a place of birdsong and rustling leaves. I acknowledge the vineyard efforts andrisks that mean that Spätlese and Auslesewines must be more expensive thantheir Kabinett siblings, but in this case I usually prefer less to more. Partly it is practicality: in the früchtig styles,Kabinett’s lower sugar levels make itmore food-friendly than Auslese; and inthe drier styles, its tempered alcohollevels have the same effect. Kabinettwines are, happily, the cheapest of theQmP brotherhood (this wine cost mebetween £6 and £7). But, mostimportantly, it is aesthetics: everythingthat I love most passionately aboutGerman wine is exemplified by agreat Kabinett.

This wine, first of all, contains just 8.5%alcohol. All wine is a drug, but this is lessof a drug than almost any other bottle I own. There is something about Germanwine’s reluctance to befuddle its drinkerthat gives it a unique kinship with greatmusic and great poetry—with works ofart, in other words, whose sensual pull isdrenched in meaning and significance,and where the trance and the raptureinvolves thought at the highest levelsrather than mere physical appeal. Themind can travel unencumbered througha glass of Kabinett, like a ghost passingthrough glass.

It is as much green as yellow. It smellsof orchards and brooks; it tastes ofapples and limes and stones. It almostseems to have the weight of water onthe tongue; it is as quick and lively as amill race. When I’ve swallowed, theprint it leaves is dry. It’s impossible notto sip again; it is a beckoning wine. Thenext sip, inevitably larger than the firstone, brings a little more fruit to thetable; the stone becomes slate: hot,dusty. The stone, indeed, makes thewine unfruity again: balance! Dutycalls, and I begin to analyse the acidity,the traces of residual sugar: morebalance, taut, like the cables on abridge. Then the next sip has overtakenme, and I feel almost ashamed of thattiresomely analytical impulse; now I am revelling in its spriteliness, itssherbet tongue-tip tingle. Should I usethe word sherbet? This wine is soevidently a part of the natural worldthat it is easy to fantasise that it madeitself and that confection has no placein it. Nonsense, naturally. But (sippingfurther) I reflect that Germany’s wineculture in a way means that it has madeitself. The duty of the vintage called,and making this Kabinett would simplyhave been a station on the road ofprecedent; this wine was the correctthing to do with that part of the crop atthat stage. It was not a wine thatrequired thought or decisions: it is, inthat sense, nature speaking, though thelanguage borrowed by nature is that ofGerman wine culture. And now I’m aquarter of the way into the bottle, andstill thinking of copse-strewn valleyswhere you can hear a dog bark fivemiles away through the dusk, and thecool night air slipping off the hillsides,and mist among the apple trees, andhow the folk poems that constituteKnaben Wunderhorn seem so facile butleave one moved nonetheless.

A Kabinett moment: pure pleasure,mind and mouth alike. Littleaccumulation; all disposition.

Broadcaster and writer Andrew Jefford recently wonthe Roederer International Wine Writer of the Yearaward for the second year running.This featureoriginally appeared in The World of Fine Winemagazine. For details of a member subsscription offerand a specially priced Kabinett wine, see the back page.

Looking down on Bernkastel

Winter pruning outside Wiltingen

When less is more...Andrew Jefford shares his reflectionson one very special bottleWines, we surely agree, are beautiful. To varying degrees.

Where, though, do we find the most beauty? In wines with the

richest accumulation of qualities? Or in wines that dispose their

qualities most artfully?

Tucked away at the back of The Society’s List is a

small but perfectly formed range of wine

accessories for sideboard and cellar. As many of

the items would make ideal last-minute gifts or

stocking fillers, we thought it would be fun to ask

the buyers which of these they would be pleased

to find in their Christmas stocking and why.

Sebastian Payne MW Chief buyer, responsible for buying Italian and Bordeaux wines

“I have accumulated the essentials over the years:corkscrews; glasses and decanters, as well as useful gadgets like ‘Rapid Ice’. But weuse a great deal of The Society’s Finest Extra Virgin Oil for mayonnaise, dressingsand in cooking, and are always running out. I would be more than happy to find acouple of bottles of it on Christmas morning.” Ref N-KI74011, £7.50 per 100cl bottle.

Marcel Orford-Williams Buyer of Champagne, German, French Country,Beaujolais, Rhône and Alsace wines

“In my opinion you can never havetoo many corkscrews and I am a greatfan of The Society’s Bottlescrew;although no corkscrew is perfect, theBottlescrew with its simple designrarely fails and its long ‘worm’ copeswell with long corks.” Ref N-SB74079, £9.95 each.

Janet Wynne Evans Specialist wine manager

“I would choose the Champagne Stopperwhich is remarkably efficient at keepingthe sparkle in unfinished fizz, not thatthere is such a great need for this in theEvans household at Christmas time!” Ref N-SB267, £4.95 each.

Mark Buckenham Buyer of spirits, liqueurs, English and fortified wines,food and accessories

“The Society’s Waiter’s Friend is the mostuseful tool in our collection, an idealstocking filler. It combines bottle opener,foil cutter and corkscrew in one unit andyour pocket does not have to be enormousfor it to fit! What is more, it can remove aplastic cork just as easily as a natural one, aboast that does not apply to allcorkscrews.” Ref N-SB257, £5.95 each.

Pierre MansourBuyer of Australia, New Zealand, North America andMiddle East wines

“When one bottle isn’t quite enough andtwo too many, the Vacu-vin is a handydevice that preserves your wine in a completely natural way byapplying a vacuum to the bottle.” Ref N-SB74219, £7.50 each.

Joanna Locke MW Buyer of Loire, Eastern Europe, Portugal, South Africa & chair of Institute of Masters of Wine

“The Magic Balls Decanter Cleaners are remarkably effective even on precious oldglass which tends to stain more easily; the neat little screwcapped pot would makea perfect stocking filler, though choose your recipient carefully – the pot and theballs inside are very small and a bit fiddly to handle.” Ref N-SB207, £3.95 per pot.

Stocking fillers

See pages 145-148 of the List for the full range of accessories including oils and vinegars, wine racks andglasses or visit the website.

societynews November/December 2007

If you have any questions or comments about societynews, or would like to see something included, please e-mail: societynews@thewinesociety.com or write to: societynews, The Wine Society, Gunnels Wood Road, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, SG1 2BG

The NorthCôte-RôtieRed only. The “roasted slope”, only halfan hour’s drive south of Beaujolais, thisnorthernmost outpost of the syrah grapeproduces wines that at times can matchBurgundy for delicacy and charm. Thevineyard is very steep with an incline ofas much as 60 degrees. Guigal is themost important producer attracting thehighest prices, but there are dozens ofsmallholders making interesting wines.

Names to watch: Gilles Barge, Clusel-Roch, Jean-Michel Gérin and BernardBurgaud.

Word of caution: Guigal has made newoak very fashionable and many growersuse it sometimes to excess.

Keeping: 5 to 15 years, up to 20 ingreat vintages.

Great recent vintages: 2006, 2005,2003, 2001, 1999, 1991.

CondrieuWhite only from the viognier grape. Thescent of apricot in a good example ofCondrieu is almost intoxicating and bestenjoyed with scallops.

Names to watch: André Perret, FrançoisVillard and Christophe Pichon.

Word of caution: Rapid expansion ofvineyards means that there are lots ofyoung vines and therefore wines that lacksubstance.

Keeping: Most are at their best between18 months and four years.

Great recent vintages: 2006, 2005,2004.

Saint-JosephReds from syrah and whites frommarsanne and roussanne; reds are moreexciting. The best Saint-Josephs have classand can be good value. Some of the bestslopes are only now being replantedafter years of neglect, so huge potential.

Names to watch: Jean-Louis Chave,Jérôme Coursodon, Pierre Gonon andPierre Gaillard. Among the négociants,Jaboulet makes a lovely soft-tasting Saint-Joseph in good years.

Word of caution: Look for the grower’sname. There is still a lot of indifferentwine about; happily much ends up onFrench supermarket shelves!

Keeping: from 2 to 10 years, rarelylonger and up to 6 years for the whites.

Great recent vintages: 2006, 2005,2004, 2003, 2000.

Crozes-HermitageReds from syrah and whites frommarsanne and roussanne. Crozes-Hermitage accounts for more than halfof the northern Rhône and its wines areplentiful and accessible. Both deliciousvibrant quaffing wine and morereserved, finer, complex wines are made.Reds better than whites.

Names to watch: Jaboulet’s Domainede Thalabert still sets the standard butlook out for Gilles Robin, Etienne Pochonand Philippe Desmeure.

Word of caution: Avoid cheapoverproduced Crozes.

Keeping: 2 to 10 years but Thalabert ina good vintage may keep for 15 orlonger. Drink whites young.

Great recent Vintages: 2006, 2005,2001.

HermitageSyrah for reds, marsanne with a littleroussanne for whites. This amazing south-facing slope has the greatest pedigree ofany wine in the Rhône Valley. Its complexgeology ensures added interest andcomplexity and in good years, Hermitagemay sit at the highest tables.

Names to watch: Jean-Louis Chave,Bernard Faurie and Marc Sorrel amongthe growers. Jaboulet’s “La Chapelle” isoften outstanding so too are some of thewines from Chapoutier and Guigal.

Word of caution: Very limited supply ofthe best wines. Prices are set to rise.

Keeping: 5 to 20 years. Whites are oftendumb between 4 and 10 years.

Great recent Vintages: Both red and white are immensely long lived:2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2001, 1998,1995, 1990.

CornasRed only from syrah. Small appellationnestling in a half amphitheatre of mostlygranite, all facing fully south. Climatehere is significantly warmer so Cornas isoften among the first to harvest. Winesare black, thick and often tannic in theiryouth. Style is changing and quality ison the up, almost matching Hermitage.

Names to watch: Auguste Clape, AlainVoge, Laurent Courbis, Thierry Allemandand Jaboulet’s Domaine St Pierre.

Word of caution: Cornas remains anuncompromising wine and rewardsgood food. Always decant.

Keeping: 5 to 17 years.

Great recent Vintages: 2006, 2005,2004, 2001, 1999, 1991.

Saint-PérayWhite only made from marsanne androussanne. The granite of Cornas givesway to limestone. The wines have moreacidity and keep well. For someunaccountable reason, historically, mostof the wine was sparkling but mercifullythings are changing. Big potential forfine whites.

Names to watch: Alain Voge, BernardGripa, Stephanne Robert. Vins de Vienneamong the négociants.

Word of caution: Producer’s name isessential. Never buy the sparkling version!

Keeping: 2 to 10 years.

Great recent Vintages: 2006, 2005,2004.

Vin de paysA growing segment in the northernRhône, including some delicious fruitywines from young vines are sold as vinde pays; as are the fine wines of Seyssuelto the north of Côte-Rôtie.

The SouthChâteauneuf-du-PapeThis large area to the north of Avignonmakes the best wines of the south. Redstend to be grenache based with syrah,mourvèdre and counoise also used. Fewwines combine immense strength withperfect elegance quite so convincingly.

Names to watch: Clos des Papes,Beaucastel, Janasse, Vieux Télégraphe,Font de Michelle, Bosquet des Papes.

Word of caution: Châteauneufproduces as much wine as the whole ofthe northern Rhône put together. A thirdis very good, a third acceptable and thelast third, undrinkable.

Keeping: drink from 3 to 15 years, morein great vintages. Whites are deliciousyoung but then go dumb from 3 to 7years old.

Great recent vintages: 2006, 2005,2004, 2001, 1998, 1995, 1990.

After Châteauneuf, there are three levels of wine:The Crus: Seven villages whose namesappear on their own

1-Tavel rosé only. Big full-bodied drystyle. A wintry pink par excellence. Buy fromDomaine Maby or Morderée.

2-Lirac all colours. Reds areChâteauneuf-like but drier. Whites haveBurgundian elegance. Buy from Maby,Morderée or Roger Sabon.

3-Vinsobres majority red: sub-alpine, socooler and perfect for syrah in particular.Buy from Jaume or Perrin.

4-Rasteau deeply coloured, full-bodiedreds, tannic when young and needing alittle time in bottle. A tiny amount offortified wine. Buy from Domaine de laSoumade, Escaravaille and Château duTrignon.

5-Gigondas big heavyweight reds, theessence of the south. Buy from SaintCosme, Domaine du Cayron, Pallières

and Clos des Cazaux. Perrin and Jabouletmake excellent négociant Gigondas.

6-Vacqueyras less weighty, fruitier,cherry like with a touch of elegance. Buyfrom Clos des Cazaux (who also makean excellent white), Perrin and Jabouletmake very good Vacqueyras as doesPatrick Lesec.

7-Beaumes de Venise better known forits sweet Muscat – Domaine desBernardins or Jaboulet make the best.Also good sturdy reds; close to Gigondasin style but ready sooner. Jaboulet makesa lovely example.

Côtes-du-Rhône VillagesThe best may have the name of a villageand are an excellent source of reliablereds. There are nearly 20 villages butlook out for Cairanne, Laudun, Séguret,Massif d’Uchaux. Producer’s namecounts for more than the appellation.

Côtes-du-Rhône, un-namedCôtes-du-Rhône VillagesRepresenting the bulk of production,good or bad in all colours. There aresome extraordinary wines sold as mereCôtes-du-Rhône that are well worthseeking out. Best examples areCoudoulet de Beaucastel, Les Garriguesfrom Domaine La Janasse or Jean-LouisChave’s Mon Coeur.

ServingRhône wines are generouslyproportioned and fit uncomfortablywithin the confines of an average bottle.Decant as much as possible; even thewhites reveal so much more if decantedan hour before serving. The reds shouldnever be served too warm, and thewhites never too cold.

An opening offer of Rhône wines from the excellent2006 vintage will be published in the New Year. The offer will be posted on our website and mailed tothose members who have bought from opening offersor ordered fine Rhône or Languedoc wines over thelast two years. Rhône wines can be found on pages48 and 108 of the Christmas List. A fuller selectionis available at www.thewinesociety.com

Bush vines in Châteauneuf

View across the Rhône to Tain l’Hermitage

Steep terraces in Côte-Rôtie

Substance, generosity and sun-ripened fruit … are the essence of Rhône wine and

it is the promise of such abundance of flavour that has propelled the Rhône to dizzy

heights within a relatively short time. There was a long period of relative obscurity

when Bordeaux and Burgundy were closer to markets in northern Europe, but

canny merchants knew their Rhônes well and a little addition of Hermitage to a

Lafite was considered a good thing. For generations Burgundy was made

unnaturally full bodied by the addition of some Châteauneuf.

The Appellation Contrôlée system was created in Châteauneuf-du-Pape to improve quality and guarantee provenance and it

was instrumental in getting the Rhône better recognised. Though created over seventy years ago, when most of the south

was planted with olive trees and many northern vineyards semi-abandoned, the appellations do give a clue to what is in the

bottle. But like most classification systems, it is not perfect and the name of the producer is just as important.

The Rhône is divided into two unequal parts, north and south, separated by a twenty mile stretch of rather green country

where there are no vines. The north is responsible for the most prestigious wines while the south is most important in

terms of volume.

Marcel Orford-WilliamsRhône buyer

How to buy … Rhône

N

Marseille

Lyon

Côte-Rôtie Vienne

Condrieu

St-Joseph

Crozes-Hermitage

Tain-l’Hermitage

CornasSt-Péray

Die

Montélimar

Cairanne RasteauGigondas

VacqueyrasBeaumes-de-Venise

Orange

Châteauneuf-du-PapeTavelLirac

Nîmes

Avignon

Toulon

4° E 5° E

43° N

44° N

Ampuis

Drôm e

Méditerranée

Rhô

ne

Rhône

60 80 100 Kms

40 60 Mls

0

0 20

20 40

RHONE

RHONE

Lyon

Avignon

St Joseph

Lirac

Wine growingregions

Principal city

Town

Major wine region

Other wine region

Wine town & region/commune

Neat terraces at Domaine St Pierre, Cornas

societynews November/December 2007

SebastianPayne MWChief wine buyer

Last Word

Memories ofthe MoselJosef Steinlein, a broker living in Trierwho died recently, helped WineSociety buyers find many a fine bottleof German wine. Mosel was his firstlove and one about which he wasboth extremely knowledgeable anddogmatic. “The five greatest vineyardsof the Mosel are Wehlen, Erden,Brauneberg, Piesport andTrittenheim”. There would be anemphatic “Nein” if anyone venturedto disagree. There was a bit of specialpleading for the last village namedbecause the Steinlein family vineyardwas Trittenheim Apotheke, but in theright hands, wines from the best sitesof the other four have incomparablebouquet and finesse.

Fred May, who gave me my first winetrade job, was a pre-war exile fromGermany whose family came fromthe Nahe. He taught me to love goodRhine wines and understandsomething about the Nahe, Rheingau,Hessen and Pfalz. I was lucky to learnabout the differences between thewines of each village while tasting thewines of the great 1971 vintage.

Why is it that relatively few peoplebuy and enjoy these wonderfulwines? A minority of Wine Societymembers are very keen on them butmany never buy German wines at all.One reason may be today’s pace oflife. Fred May used to sit for hourschatting with his growers, talkingabout the wines and putting theworld to rights. Eventually an oldbottle would be opened and I wouldbe amazed at the freshness anddelicacy of a wine over ten years oldwith perhaps only 8% alcohol and beastonished by its haunting bouquetand persistent flavour. At this periodthe big group buyers who controlledoff-licence distribution werecompeting with the Dutch to see how little they could pay for a bottlelabelled Moselle and the resultsprobably prejudiced a generationagainst the whole category. At thebeginning of the last century Rhine wines were amongst the most highly prized and priced in the world. It is time to slow downand rediscover them.

Registered as: The International Exhibition Co-operative Wine Society Limited,

Gunnels Wood Road, Stevenage, Hertfordshire SG1 2BG

Enquiries 01438 741177Orders 01438 740222Fax 01438 761167E-mail memberservices@thewinesociety.comWebsite www.thewinesociety.com

Imagine Christmas in the days beforeblenders, microwaves, and fridge-freezers, when the domestic oven wasthe only food processor people owned.The best came with a user’s guide andrecipe selection, written in thepatronising, public-information style ofearly television broadcasts, aimed at thedimmest common denominator. The Parkinson Stove Company’sworkmanlike doorstop is just such agem. For those who thought a certainMrs D. Smith’s best-selling instructionson how to boil an egg a sad indictmentof British cooking savvy, Parkinsonstarts even more pragmatically withWhy Cook Food? The answer, of course,is that you will be very ill if you don’t,and if you don’t do it in a Parkinsonstove you are surely dicing with death.

Having stuffed and trussed the festivealbatross, the manual is strong on

tea-time treats. Recipes for “DagoCakes” and “Picaninnies” remind usthat these were also the days beforepolitical correctness. They were also thedays of rationing, but the book findsnothing remotely ironic in a recipewhich calls for half a pound each ofbutter and icing sugar, when most userswould have struggled to get their hands on such delights, (or an obligingAmerican serviceman).

The gruelling critical path forChristmas cake, involving hand-pipingand macerating an unfeasible quantityof muscatel raisins, is taxing for aworking girl, even with the director’scut of War and Peace on the box, so Iprefer to serve up a concoction ofchocolate and ginger for high days andholidays. Recently, when this tried andtrusted recipe inexplicably went southin every respect, Parkinson saved the

day. Out came the aforementioned half-pound of icing sugar from the back ofthe cupboard, followed by half a bar ofbitter chocolate (from the front,naturally). The amazingly compliantgoo which resulted was promptlychristened Multitude of Sins Icing, inhonour not only of the ingredients, butthat which it concealed.

The biggest surprise was the taste –clean, sharp and very chocolatey. Backinto the cupboard went the LapsangSouchong and out (again, from thefront) came the vin de liqueur.

Multitude of Sins Icing requires 200gicing sugar, 2 tbsp boiling water and asqueeze of lemon juice, mixed togetherand beaten with 50g melted chocolate,and an optional 12g melted butter foradded gloss. Spread over a chocolatesponge and leave to set for a finealternative Christmas cake. Serve with a little fromage frais and a glass of Maury Solera, 1928, Cask 866 (ref N-FC15341), a glorious dessertgrenache dating from a time well before rationing.

A very Merry Christmas to all my feeders.

Piesport, one of the ‘five greatestvineyards of the Mosel’

M E M B E R

Stratford upon AvonThe Stratford upon Avon Grape Club isa wine society with over ten years’experience. Tastings with speakers takeplace on the second Tuesday of everymonth. Although the Club currentlyhas a small waiting list, guests are morethan welcome to attend meetings. For further information please contactDonald Pollock on 01789 731614 ordonald.pollock@talk21.com.

North LondonExisting mature group of members inthe Finchley, Muswell Hill, Highgatearea of north London is looking fornew members interested in expandingtheir knowledge and expertise inwines. We meet every four to six weeksin each other's homes for tastings.Contact Linda on 07747 060577 or e-mail daylight2@btinternet.com.

£25 of wine for new membersA share in The Society would make a good Christmas present for anyonewho enjoys wine, and those members proposed between 15th October and31st December will also have £25 to spend on their first order. Any membercan act as proposer; just complete the application form in the List, contactMember Services or apply online. The cost of one lifetime share in TheSociety is £40. In order for applications to be processed in time forChristmas, please make sure they reach us by 5pm, Sunday 16th December.

‘ ’the book finds nothing

remotely ironic in arecipe which calls forhalf a pound each of

butter and icing sugar

‘ ’written in

the patronising, public-information

style of early television broadcasts

Food for thought

CHRISTMAS ATHOME ON THERANGEFortified by a seasonal glass,

Janet Wynne Evans celebrates

the lost genre of the oven

owner’s manual

Janet Wynne EvansSpecialist winemanager

The World of Fine WineThe feature on page 2 by Andrew Jefford was originally published in TheWorld of Fine Wine magazine. The cover price of the magazine is £30.Subscribers pay £89 for four issues, a saving of 25% on the single-issueprice. Members of The Wine Society can benefit from a further reductionand receive five issues for the price of four, representing an additionalsaving of 20% off normal subscription rates. To take advantage of thisoffer, go to www.finewinemag.com, click on Subscription, and enterWineSoc07 in the box inviting an offer code. Or if you prefer, telephonethe subscription hotline on 0844 844 0383 and ask for the same offer.Offer valid until 31st December 2007.

eXploreTo encourage everyone to experiencetheir own special ‘Kabinett moment’,we have reduced the bottle price ofWinnigen Uhlen Riesling Kabinett,von Heddersdorff, 2005, anattractive fruity quaffing Mosel fromnear Koblenz, to £6.45 instead of£7.95 until Monday, 31st December2007. One bottle per member at thisprice. Ref N-GE5471.

Illustration by Philip Bishop