There’s nothing like a tasting of old wines to give you a sense of perspective. Sipping from bottles that were made before you were born (increasingly rare in my case...
Read MoreTwo great South African white blends
Wandering around the London International Wine Fair can be a bewildering experience. You could spend three weeks at ExCel, a series of ugly aircraft hangers in the Docklands, and only...
Read MoreWhat’s wrong with the UK wine scene
In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re in the middle of National Wine Month, an initiative launched by the admirable Wine & Spirit Education Trust. I may have missed the road...
Read MoreThe joy of blind tastings
They may not be as unpopular as estate agents, traffic wardens or international bankers, but wine tasters are generally regarded with suspicion and even derision by the general public. I...
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Bordeaux 2010: should you believe the hype?
At a drinks party during the Masters of Wine Symposium in Bordeaux last June I was talking to Jean-Guillaume Prats, the general manager of Château Cos d’Estournel. What would the...
Read MoreRIP, Oddbins
RIP, Odbins. When the Wimbledon-based chain was in its award-winning pomp writing those words would have been unimaginable, like predicting that the sun wouldn’t rise tomorrow. But after yesterday’s vote...
Read MoreCan California crack the UK market?
It was George Bernard Shaw who described England and the United States as “two nations divided by a common language.” The famous quote kept coming back to me on a...
Read MoreThe trouble with non-vintage Champagne
It’s a while since I’ve tasted a line-up of more than 60 non-vintages Champagnes in a single sitting. Well, standing actually. But the annual event in the sumptuous surroundings of...
Read MoreMaking sense of Sangiovese
How do you make sense of Italian wine? The country has more indigenous grapes than any other (somewhere between 800 and 1000 at a rough estimate) many of which are...
Read MoreJuel Mahoney’s take on 2006 Brunello di Montalcino vintage
There’s something reminiscent of Fashion Week about the Benvenuto Brunello event in Montalcino, with visitor passes, photographers, security guards and large tents. Amongst it all, this is where I tasted...
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Searching for the succulence of Pinot Noir
There are some tastings that you’d cross a busy motorway intersection blindfold to attend. I don’t know what does it for you, but a line-up of village level, premier and...
Read MoreAn agnostic’s view of natural wines
The future of wine or a heap of hooey? Just like bio-dynamics, Dr Rudolf Steiner’s so-called “spiritual science”, the subject of natural wines tends to provoke extreme opinions. Listening to...
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