My flight from London to San Francisco last week was punctuated by an overnight stay in the handsome town of Denver. Barely 90 minutes after touching down I was on my way to a tasting of Chevalier-Montrachets. Local hand surgeon Charles Hamlin and banker Hal Logan had kindly invited me and I rather fancied playing (briefly) at being Harry Waugh, the venerable British wine authority, who, according to his Wine Diaries published by Christie’s, seemed to spend his life jetting in to American cities to taste fine wines with the locals.
Completist Jack Vesey had amassed Chevalier-Montrachet 2000 from...