The International Pinot Noir Celebration (IPNC) is held each July in McMinnville, Oregon. This was my third time at this remarkable event, which brings together consumers and trade in a…
Brooks: Pinot Noir and Riesling from this top Oregon estate
Brooks is one of Oregon’s unsung stars. Their 14 000 case production is split among many small lots, with the largest fermentation in the winery occurring in 2.5 ton fermenters….
Nine BA lounge whites, a bit of a mixed bunch, but some surprises
There are quite a few bottles open in the BA lounge (I’m off travelling again…), so I did a tasting. I’m following the example of one of my wine heroes,…
A wine from Bolivia! Campos de Solano Tannat Malbec
Normally, Bolivia would be far to warm to make quality wines. But altitude changes things. This wine comes from the Tarija Valley in Bolivia, where the vineyards are at 1850…
Winemaking ideologies, my contribution to the Texsom debate
Yesterday at Texsom I took part in a discussion on winemaking ideologies, with a very good panel. Each of us was asked to prepare something to say, so I wrote…
Texsom: Germany’s finest – VDP Grosses Gewächs
This TexSom tasting focused on Grosses Gewächs: these are wines produced from top vineyard sites in Germany by members of a high-end producers club called the VDP, which began life…
Texsom: exploring the wines of Mexico
Serafin Alvarado and Wayne Belding presented this seminar on Mexican wines, a subject I’ve virtually no experience of. Mexico isn’t an obvious place to grow high quality wine grapes: it’s…
Texsom: S&M wines seminar
Not all wines are easy. There’s a stream of thought in the wine world that the wine industry should do better at giving ‘consumers’ what they want. We change wines…
Texsom: some Oregon whites
Today’s team lunch at Texsom featured Oregon wines. But no reds! This was a chance to look at some of Oregon’s whites, and also to branch out beyond the Willamette…