OK, a round-up of some of the memorable wines we’ve had this holiday. Pictured above: the Man O’War Chardonnay 2009, with its characteristic matchstick reduction adding some Burgundian-style complexity. This…
Northern Rhone series 16, Domaine Clape Cornas Renaissance
Hmmm, I’m enjoying this Northern Rhone series. A chance to drink some wonderful wines. Here’s the latest: it’s a Cornas from Clape, but it isn’t at all rustic. Some people…
Northern Rhone series 5, Jamet Cote Rotie 1999
This wine is a favourite of mine, and I’ve drunk it on perhaps a dozen occasions. Well stored bottles, like this one, are really singing now, but there’s no hurry…
Northern Rhone series 3, 1967 Hermitage
So after two white Hermitage wines, we’re heading to Syrah, but sticking with the Hermitage hill. This wine is very interesting. It was a gift from Richard Kelley MW, who’d…
Video: on the Hermitage hill
Here’s a short film of the wonderful hill of Hermitage: a relatively small appellation of 123 hectares, of which 25 are white grapes (mainly Marsanne), the remainder Syrah. It’s amazing…
Two Chateauneufs: Beaucastel 99 and Vieux Telegraphe 95
Nice to be able to compare these two side by side. The Beaucastel had the slight edge, although it’s not a competition of course. The VT 1995 is a wine…
Fun on the wedding day
We had a great time yesterday at my sister’s place, where a sizeable contingent of family gathered to celebrate the royal wedding. I was initially not intending to watch the…
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,…
Two nice supermarket Northern Rhone Syrahs
It’s not often I recommend French wines stocked by UK supermarkets, because the buying is rarely that inspired. Most decent French stuff simply doesn’t fit with the requirements of the…