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Of my long list of amazingly bad decisions, one of the worst was in 1998 to buy three cases of 1996 white burgundy. One a village, one a premier cru and one quite posh. The first was alright, but towards the end was falling apart. The second has been awful. Last night I tried a bottle which had both Mrs H and I both spluttering and falling over.

1996 has become notorious for white burgundy turning to vinegar, at all levels. Why, I hear you ask, did you not protest loudly to the merchant?Well, I did, but was brushed off. Whilst I will moan loud and long for clients, I am not too good on my own behalf, and let it be.

Should you have to moan? Is there any other industry or trade which would expect you to buy as seen, no matter what?

The posh wine, a Corton Charlemagne, has so far been hit and miss, more hit fortunately. It needs to be drunk up, but what has it come to when your heart misses a beat as you draw the cork?

Does anyone out there think there should be an objectively guaranteed result when you buy a wine, or is it a lottery?

Sadly, a bad vintage is a bad vintage but I seem to remember 1996 once being touted as "Great" for White Burgundy.

If the wine is poor rather than faulty then I think that you have no comeback on the merchant.

When I bought, all en primeur, it was being so touted!

The wines were faulty, but I think that the fault was so widespread through all levels of wine, that the trade has, understandably, been hesitant about replacing them. The reasons have been debated in the wine press, but there seems still to be no real concensus on the causes which also affecteded a couple of subsequent vintages up to 2000, but not so widely. Also, it seems to be an episode the producers prefer to forget.

The good news is that we had a bottle of the Corton last night, and it was on form.

John