Tag Archive | "wine"
The Big Fortified Tasting – a big thumbs up
Nine out of 10 vegetarians miss bacon and I still hanker after BLT sandwiches. Happily a similar new acronym, BFT – short for Big Fortified Tasting – has entered my vocabulary and I feel well compensated! The name pulls no punches. With over 300 wines at today’s inaugural tasting, it provided a unique opportunity to [...]
Continue reading...From white to pink elephant and other tales from the jungle – highlights from the Annual Portugal tasting
Posted Friday 16th April 2010
It pays to focus at annual generic trade tastings – so many wines, so little time – it’s a jungle out there! At Tuesday’s Annual Portugal tasting, I really had my work cut out for me because I was also presenting tastings on the hour every hour. My tactic? To make a beeline for wines [...]
Continue reading...What did curiosity kill????
Posted Thursday 15th April 2010
The cat, so the saying goes but I’m with Raymond Blanc when he says “if you lose your curiosity, you die a little.” With chefs in mind, he went on to say “and your food also dies a little.” It’s equally true for wine isn’t it? Those winemakers who engage me the most tend to [...]
Continue reading...Château Pierre Bise – Coteaux du Layon Les Rouannières vertical & latest releases
Posted Wednesday 14th April 2010
Claude Papin of Château Pierre Bise in the Loire is as tenacious a terroirist as they come. By reference to UTBs (Unités de Terroir de Base/Terroir Base Units), he has divided his 54ha estate into 25 different climats – mini parcels which inform his portfolio of climat-specific wines. As Papin put it to me back [...]
Continue reading...Portugal Annual tasting 12 & 13th April – tips for the trade & consumers
Posted Monday 12th April 2010
Today I’m preparing for tomorrow’s Annual Portugal Trade Tasting at Lords cricket ground, where I’ll be presenting “short-burst” tastings on the hour from 12 noon to highlight key trends. Consumers get a head start between 6-8.30pm tonight and, if you haven’t booked tickets already (see here), you can pay on the door and take your [...]
Continue reading...Bordeaux blends Margaret River-style
Posted Thursday 1st April 2010
Last week I discovered that “hair of the dog” is as applicable to holidays as hangovers. The evening after I returned from a particularly fabulous break in Western Australia (see my top 10 tips here), I presented a Western Australia tasting – a great opportunity to extend that holiday glow and flash my rapidly receding [...]
Continue reading...Going my own WA – my top 10 Western Australia travel tips
Posted Thursday 1st April 2010
It’s often said that a wine writer’s life is one long holiday. Last September’s trip to Western Australia in which I combined wine and travel assignments did nothing to dispel this myth. Much as I loved it, I’ve been dying to get back to WA under my own steam with my other half for some [...]
Continue reading...Landmark, Denmark – Australian fine wine & chocolate
Posted Friday 26th March 2010
I’m back from holidays this week. While I was away I received some incredibly exciting news – I’m one of 14 people selected to attend the prestigious Landmark Australia Tutorial 2010 in the Yarra Valley this September. Julia Harding MW of Jancis Robinson’s Purple Pages and Jamie Goode, The Wine Anorak, batted for England at [...]
Continue reading...Australia Trade Tasting highlights 2010, more than one entity
Posted Wednesday 17th March 2010
I’ve posted my 3rd report on the annual Australia Trade Tasting here. Having already covered Pinot Noir & Chardys and Cult & Boutique’s range (see here), it covers a mixed bag in terms of wine style, region, variety – Australia’s a big country! The common thread for my choices is great quality. Some great value [...]
Continue reading...Chinon, Chi-yes, and other Loire goodies!
Posted Monday 15th March 2010
The Loire Salon is a well-timed opportunity to taste the latest vintage for the purposes of updating Oz Clarke Pocket Wine among other things, but it’s good to taste wines that are actually available in the UK and had a bit of time in bottle, for you and for my tooth enamel! I’ve posted some [...]
Continue reading...Cult & Boutique Wines from Down Under
Posted Monday 8th March 2010
Cult & Boutique Wines import a number of wines I’d not previously tasted, many of which, given their name, you’ll not be surprised to hear have received rave reviews in The Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator. Last month’s Australia Trade Tasting provided the opportunity to suss them out. With few exceptions, they’re big, bold wines with [...]
Continue reading...Anjou-Villages Brissac 2008 – kind to the teeth & gentle on the gums…
Posted Wednesday 3rd March 2010
Best to adopt the brace position when tasting young Anjou Cabernet, Franc or Sauvignon - predominantly schist soils make for fearsome tannins. And I realised, as I broached this pre-Salon tasting at the imposing Château Brissac, that I was still recoiling from the memory of the previous year. Then, not only was I faced with [...]
Continue reading...A pair of Secateurs
Posted Monday 1st March 2010
Ex-Rustenberg man Adi Badenhorst’s Paardeberg Rhone blends, white and red, were one of my finds of the 2008 Cape Fair (see here). A A Badenhorst Family Red 2006 received plenty of plaudits when I showed it at my “Cape Rhone blends with a twist tasting” last summer (reported here). The only grievance? That it wasn’t [...]
Continue reading...St Hallet Old Block Shiraz 2006 – snap up the no. 1 wine – Wine 100 magazine
Posted Friday 26th February 2010
A quick post so you’re not pipped at the post! I’m part way though writing up my notes of the Australia Trade Tasting of which St Hallet Old Block Shiraz 2006 is a highlight – I’ve extracted my tasting note with alacrity below so you can make a pre-emptive strike. Reason is I just had [...]
Continue reading...Won-Dão-ful – Quinta da Falorca, Dão reds
Posted Wednesday 24th February 2010
Just posted a regional report (here) with notes from a great tasting, trotting through a range of Quinta da Falorca Dão reds, including some mini-verticals. I’ve not visited them, but their wines were a stand out at a generic Dão tasting I attended last year in July on my 50 Great Portuguese Wines’ quest (reported [...]
Continue reading...South African wine sales overtake France
Posted Monday 22nd February 2010
Watching the BAFTAs last night, I’d quite forgotten about District 9 – a gripping, sometimes visceral, South African sci-fi film shot documentary style about aliens stranded in Johannesburg. For some, South Africa overtaking France in wine sales might be as likely as an alien invasion, but it’s true! Here’s an extract from a press release [...]
Continue reading...Jazzing it up in Jasnières & Coteaux du Loir, Loire Salon 2010 focus
Posted Saturday 20th February 2010
Today I’ve posted my first Loire Regional report (click here) on this year’s Salon (the annual Loire trade fair in Angers), covering the wines of Domaine de Bellivière, Domaine le Briseau, Jean-Pierre Robinot and Domaine les Maison Rouges. Not heard of them? They all hail from Jasnières & Coteaux du Loir, two once obscure, northerly [...]
Continue reading...Domaine de Pallus – pretty as that picture
Posted Wednesday 17th February 2010
Tom Ford’s movie, A Single Man, provoked charges of style over substance from some quarters, prompting me to wonder if they’d prejudged the movie. Sure, directed by the ex-Gucci man it’s a stylishly realised movie, but with a tremendous emotional charge. So what’s this to do with wine? Well this week I tasted two rather [...]
Continue reading...Australia Trade Tasting 2010 – Pinot Noir & Chardonnay report
Posted Sunday 14th February 2010
At last year’s Australia Day tasting, varietal tables for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay reinforced how a new generation of winemakers are really starting to get under the skin of these Burgundian varieties (you can find my notes here). This year, I made a bee-line for Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley producers who are leading the [...]
Continue reading...Save a rare beast – a meaty wine column – The Observer
Posted Wednesday 10th February 2010
The Observer wine columnist Tim Atkin MW is one of my role models when it comes to wine writing. No armchair critic, he travels and tastes widely and relentlessly. In consequence, his style is unpatronising, considered, authoritative and muscular. Not shouty or sensational, he puts wine at the core of his work. And he retains [...]
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Posted Monday 19th April 2010
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