The origin of Thirsty Owl was 200 acres of land belonging to Bob and Mary Plane who were instrumental in pushing for the NY Farm Winery Act, which made it…
New York Wine (19) Osmote, Finger Lakes
Osmote is one of our finds from the New York trip. It’s the project of Ben Riccardi, who grew up in New York State (born in Ithaca, and studied at…
Some nice wines from small importer Tiger Vines
Tiger Vines is a small import business run by James Thomas. He worked with Domaine Laroche, then spent two years at Majestic Wine, three years at Bibendum and eight years…
Alternative Bordeaux (4) organic farming in the Cru Bourgeois
The Médoc is at the heart of Bordeaux. As well as the 60 Grand Cru Classé estates that sit at the top of the hierarchy of vineyards, there are another…
New York Wines (17) Boundary Breaks, Finger Lakes
Bruce Murray comes from central New York. A few years ago he enjoyed one of Germany’s leading Rieslings (a Spatlese from Nahe genius Helmut Dononnhof Riesling Spatlese with a Thai…
New York Wine (16) Swedish Hill, Finger Lakes
The story at Swedish Hill is a common one in the Finger Lakes. Grapes were planted here for Taylor Wines, and then in the 1970s with their demise these grapes…
Be a wave catcher
There’s a lot of luck involved in success. I think it’s Gary Player, the legendary South African golfer, who came up with the famous line: ‘the more I practice the…
Mining the seam
The world is changing fast. Nothing is forever: we know that. But the pace of change seems to increase every decade. Sometimes it seems that change is so rapid that…
Three Portuguese reds
Portugal is such an interesting wine country. These are three interesting wines that I’ve recently tried. The Almeida Garret is superb value, especially. Alves de Sousa Quinta da Gaivosa 2015…