Last night we had dinner in the home of Duncan Savage, from Cape Point. Duncan’s wife Zani very kindly cooked for 12 of us, which was very public spirited, and…
My new book: first glimpse of the cover design
So here’s the cover design for the book Sam and I have written. I think the designers have got it right first time. Now it all seems a lot more…
Some nice South African wines
So as well as judging (which is totally blind – we don’t even know the identity of the wines that have entered the competition), we’re managing to try some wine…
Tasting teeth after another day’s judging
Today has been hard work, but thoroughly enjoyable. Best of all, we are finding plenty of wines that we can stand behind as South Africa’s top 100. I have tasting…
A good day’s tasting
Today has been a very interesting day of tasting. It was the first day of judging the new South African Top 100 competition, held here in St James, Cape Town….
Glad to be back in South Africa
It’s nice to be back in South Africa. I arrived mid-morning along with Greg Sherwood and Sam Harrop. Together with Tim Atkin, who got here a little earlier, we are…
Breaky Bottom: an impressive English fizz
OK, we all know how good the famous names of English sparkling wine are: the likes of Nyetimber, Ridgeview and Camel Valley. Well here’s another, less well known name, making…
Verniotte Castillon 2008
This is a substantial Bordeaux from a lesser appellation, made by Henry Laithwaite, son of Tony Laithwaite. It’s the first wine to be produced fron this new estate, which has…
A busy day’s tasting: IGP and Cote Rotie
So, today has been a busy day of tasting. It began with the IGP Top 100 tasting in Parson’s Green. Now IGP is what used to be Vin de Pays,…