What to drink this week

Fine and rare (especially Champagne)

Harry Eyres gives his top tips for this week’s Christie’s sale

My first serious job (to declare an interest) was working for Christie’s Wine Department, where my work consisted of cataloguing sales. Very occasionally, tasting or other notes were added, to flesh out more mundane details of quantity and title. Once, feeling bored and rebellious, I made one up, stating that the six bottles of Dr Rutland’s Invalid Port on sale had been prescribed for Sir Winston Churchill during the Second World War as a tonic. Mea maxima culpa. Another memory concerns old Champagne. In those days, most of the very old Champagne that came up was sold to precisely two individuals—one a property developer and the other a Labour politician.

Why you should be bidding

Nowadays, Christie’s sales are rather better filtered. An exceptional one is being held at King Street on November 28–29 and highlights include some truly remarkable Champagne.

What to bid for

The name of Boërl & Kroff is certainly not a household one, but what may be the smallest of all Champagne houses is also one of the most prestigious. Three small plots (only 7½ acres in total) planted to Pinot Noir near Urville in the Aube produce wine of exceptional depth, seriousness and firmness. Vintage wines are only bottled in magnums and larger sizes. The 2002 (below) and 1998 vintages (lots 934–937) show the virtues of these two very different vintages to perfection, the former voluptuous, creamy and still young, the latter showing some biscuity and gamey notes. Other rare and remarkable vintage Champagnes include several vintages of Salon Le Mesnil Blanc de Blancs and, at a more affordable level, some Laurent-perrier 2002 (I might even bid for that). Enticing Bordeaux, Burgundy (Roumier et al) and Rioja (La Rioja Alta) also feature. Contact nmay@christies.com for further information and to bid.