The pleasure of lists

WHY Wine

One of my favourite pastimes in Europe is to spend time browsing in a real bookshop. Not a supermarket, but in the old-fashioned shops dedicated to good books, with owners who know what they are selling, who make personal choices and are eager to share their passion with their customers and friends.

In such a bookshop in Belgium I recently purchased two volumes: the latest novel by the Icelandic mystery writer Arnaldur Indridason, the author of Jar City from which a truly remarkable film was made. Arctic Chill starts with the murder of a young boy of Thai descent in freezing Reykjavik  -  superb.

The other was a modest little paperback called Les 100 meilleurs vins, the best 100 wines for an ideal cellar, by sommelier Eric Beaumard. The idea of the book is to help you start a good wine collection for every occasion.

It first explains what a good cellar should be. Very few of us in the tropics have true wine cellars, and in the best of cases have to make do with wine cabinets. Use it for your best wines, the bottles that need some ageing. For the rest, just keep them away from the sun, and from any source of great heat in general.

I would also avoid keeping bottles for too long in a normal refrigerator, reds especially. Of course you know already that red wine should be consumed at 15/17 degrees and white at around 8/12, depending of the wine. Warmer or colder they lose some of their qualities. A warm white wine is flat, a red that's too cold or too warm abandons its personality.

This little book is of French origin and despite the fact that wines from all over the world are now easily available in France, it lists only two foreign bottles: a Hungarian Tokaji (or Tokay) 5 puttonyos, and an Italian Barolo. In all fairness it should be noted that the diversity and richness of French vineyards makes it easy to forget that wine is now a worldwide phenomenon.

Beaumard first lists the 30 bottles that should be the basis of the starting amateur cellar. It comprises 70 percent red, 20 percent whites and 10 percent others (rose and bubblies). No bottle costs more than 13 euros (650 baht; the lucky people of Europe have a friendlier tax system) nor should a bottle needs more than five years ageing.

Among the whites are a pinot blanc and a riesling from Alsace, a Bourgogne Aligote, a Cotes du Rhones and from the same region a Saint-Peray (these are too often neglected for the reds), an Entre deux Mers from Bordeaux, a Muscadet, a Sancerre, a Limoux (from the Languedoc), plus a rose Cotes de Provence, and a late-harvested Jurancon.

Reds are Bergerac, Gaillac, Cahors, Chinon, Saint Nicolas de Bourgueil, Saumur Champigny, Coteaux du Languedoc, Cotes de Provence, a Faugeres (Languedoc, worth discovering), a Cotes de Brouilly and Morgon (one of the better Beaujolais with some ageing possibilities from Dominique Piron at 7.50 euros), Vacqueyras and a sweet Rasteau (both from the Cotes du Rhone, the latter made from the various grenache grapes), a red from Corsica, a Burgundy from the Hautes Cotes de Nuit (Domaine David Duban at 12 euros) and finally a Cotes-de-Castillon and a Fronsac from Bordeaux. The surprise on this list is a red Beaume-de-Venise (that's the name of a town in the Cotes du Rhone).

It would be very difficult to indulge in this list in Thailand, especially at such prices. The other problem we would face is that of constant availability. By the time we would have an informed choice, some of the wines would probably disappear from the local shelves.

Next week, a look at the most exalted wines from Monsieur Beaumard's list.

Email: chateaudo377@gmail.com