No this isn’t the start of some dodgy and culturally insensitive joke! No, it is in fact 3 of the wines we currently have in our ‘Private Cellar Fine Wines’ selection that we are selling on behalf of a client. His cellar has some fabulous wines in it ranging in price up to and over £1500 a bottle!
However today I am focusing on 3 wines that are at the lower end of the scale in price and really offer excellent value for money. These are:
Les Boissiers 1998, Domaine Font Caude, Alain Chabanon, France
Creek Block Shiraz 1997, Greenock Creek, Australia
Cabrida 1996, Tarragona, Celler de Capcanes
What these wines and all the wines in the ‘Private Cellar’ offer you is the opportunity to buy single or more bottles of wines that have age on them, that are ready for enjoying now and that offer excellent value for money.
Aged wines offer such an array of exciting and different flavours that younger wines simply do not and cannot show. Young wines are usually all about fruit, which is fine in itself, but there is something extra special about tasting a wine that has more complexity of flavours and style showing through, and these 3 wines certainly have that extra something that makes them stand out.
Les Boissiers 1998, Alain Chabanon, France – £15.00
90% Grenache & 10% Syrah
“Alain Chabanon’s Domaine Font Caude is now one of the leading lights in the Languedoc. He owns 18 ha of vines in the commune of Montpeyroux… These are impressive wines showing great concentration in a lush, attractive mould…
The lovely rich, sweet herby liquoricey nose is very striking. Lush, sweet palate is quite herby and fruity, with some tannic structure. This is an unusual wine; quite a low acid style. Very good/excellent.”
Jamie Goode, Wineanorak.com, 2002
Creek Block Shiraz 1997, Greenock Creek Vineyard & Cellars – £20.00
This is a boutique winery based in the Barossa Valley, South Australia which has somewhat of a ‘cult’ status. Absolutely tiny production but all of excellent quality. The opportunity to try one of their stunning and rare wines is one not to be missed when the opportunity arises….
“Revealing an opaque purple color, the 1997 Shiraz Creek Block Vineyard exhibits sweet aromatics as well as a firm mouthfeel. This intense offering could be called Syrup of Shiraz. Full-bodied, massively concentrated and extracted, this gigantic wine is long and rich. Look for this wine to be drinkable young, yet keep for two decades. Drink now to 2020. 95 points.” Robert Parker
Written in February 2000 this wine has had a decade of aging since. As a result all those massive, concentrated and extracted flavours have knitted together to create a fantastic wine that still has the power and richness but now much smoother and softer in style and drinking beautifully.
Cabrida 1996, D.O. Tarragona, Celler de Capcanes, Spain – £25.00
Hailing from one of the less ‘fashionable’ regions in Spain this wine is one that although excellent in quality, style and flavour will never reach the high echelons of pricing, which makes it superb value for those in the know!
Writing in Decanter Magazine Tim Atkin said of this wine; “Cabrida ’96: The most enjoyable bottle I’ve ever drunk…Wine doesn’t have to be famous, or ludicrously expensive, to taste great”.
Made from 100% Garancha (Grenache) this is an immensely sophisticated wine with intense but elegant red berries, herbs, floral characters, smooth oak and soft tannin.
There is not a lot more to say on any of these wines, other than there are only a few bottles of each available, and that is so for many of the other wines on the list, so get in quick for when they’re gone… they’re gone!
Private Cellar Fine Wines List