McCulloch Wines is the venture of Englishman Don McCulloch and his Serbian-born wife Seka Nikolic. McCulloch was previously a special protection police officer for the Royal Family (he retired after…
More from Belgrade, Serbia
Just back from Belgrade, where I have been having a lot of fun judging wines, eating, drinking and staying up too late. On Friday, we judged 160 wines; on…
In Serbia judging wine
I’m in Serbia. It is my first time here, and I’ve come to act as a judge in the Serbian wine awards competition Great Serbian Wine Tasting 2013, which is…
A brilliant Serbian white wine
As I write, I’m sipping a white wine from Serbia. This would be a brilliant wine to put into a blind tasting: I reckon most people would suggest that it’s…
The fabulous Papaskarasi from Chamlija, one of Turkey’s top wineries
Tasted today, at the London Wine Fair, a remarkable red wine from boutique Turkish producer Chamlija. It’s a grape variety that’s new to me: Papaskarasi. Not much is known about…
My wine predictions for 2014
Predicting the future is a mug’s game, but it’s fun, and I’m a bit of a mug. So here goes – my wine predictions for 2014. The commoditization of wine…
A year in the life of a winewriter, 2013
It has been a good year. Not always straightforward, but rewarding. One measure of the success of a year is how much I have learned, and this year I have…
In Bulgaria, judging wines of the Balkans
I am currently in Sofia, Bulgaria, where I am judging the Balkans International Wine Competition, along with a merry band of excellent judges from different Balkan countries, plus three of us…
Day 3 of the IWC
Very tired tonight. Another big day at the International Wine Challenge, with plenty of wines passing our table (number 9, again), and a good number going through to next week,…