Just back from Vintner’s Hall in London, where tonight saw the 50th birthday celebration of Laithwaites/Direct Wines winemaker Jean-Marc Sauboua. The quality of the turn-out showed just how highly people…
A natural Burgundy from Alexandre Jouveaux
Some of the most enduring tastes are difficult to acquire. The first time you taste a really strong goat’s cheese, your instinct is to recoil in horror. But persevere, taste…
Beer: St Stefanus Blonde in 75 cl bottle
Now this is a really smart beer. It’s a Belgian beer with aspirational ideas, and it’s now available in 75 cl bottles. Belgian beers are really interesting, but they tend to…
New wines from Jacob’s Creek
I’ve just written up a tasting through the Jacob’s Creek range, including some older bottles. Of particular interest, but perhaps more to the trade than to the majority of readers…
Judging at the Sommelier Wine Awards
Spent the day judging at the Sommelier Wine Awards, which is run by Imbibe magazine. The idea is to award medals to wines that deserve a place on a good wine…
A Malbec from New Zealand that I really like
A lovely, fresh expression of Malbec from a country not normally associated with it: New Zealand. And at a penny under a tenner, this is cracking value for money. M&S Nelson…
Sine Qua Non Shot in the Dark – 100 points or 86?
I have just written up Thursday night’s tasting of cult Californian wines. It was an eye-opener. One wine in particular polarized option. For me it was the worst wine of…
Nice wines at the Portuguese wine awards dinner
Last night was the Portuguese wine awards dinner at the Ambassador’s residence. It’s an annual event, now in its eighth edition, and is organized by the Association of Portuguese Wine…
Why are tasting notes so bad? Can anything be done?
Just been browsing the tasting notes on a well known wine website (I will spare the name; I don’t want to be mean to this fine publication, because the problem…