jamie goode's wine blog

So, after two day’s judging, today was the Balkan wine festival here in Sofia, where a number of producers gathered to show their wines. I just wanted to report on a few particular highlights.

First of all Borovitza, from northwest Bulgaria. This is a brilliant winery, making small quantities of wine from some really good vineyards. [...]

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 from outside the region.

We have spent two days judging and we have just finished. The competition was flawlessly run and this afternoon – where all [...]

Wine merchant Lay & Wheeler have been part of Majestic Wine for a while, and for the first time at this week’s Majestic press tasting some of the Lay & Wheeler portfolio was shown. Here are my notes on some of the wines.

Valdesil Pezas de Portela Godello 2010 Valdeorras, Spain
Textured, rich and powerful with sweet melony [...]

I feel guilty. In an age of information overload, I blog pretty much every day. I contribute to the vast mass of media output that clogs up peoples’ thinking space. Media creators like me, however, are fighting for attention. So we need to self-promote and push ourselves out front. Unashamed attention grabbers.

I scanned back through [...]

I love decanting red wines. And some whites. But I have always struggled with cleaning decanters properly.

My usual technique is to was then in very hot water several times, and then leave them to drain. But they never seem to drain completely, and then some water always seems to condense in them, no matter how [...]

Here is the abstract of a talk I am doing in Spain next month, on the impact of the Internet on wine communication. It is aimed at wineries. I wrote it on my phone on the way to the airport, where I am now blogging via my phone. It takes a while. It means I [...]

I’m off to the Loire tomorrow for three days. Today, though, was filled with a mix of activity.

After walking the dogs in lovely spring sunshine, I headed off to London Bridge for the Big Fortified Tasting. I love fortified wines, and the big draw was a chance to taste some 30 samples of 2011 Vintage [...]

I have been busy. Very busy.

For two weeks each April, I do what most normal people do, and work a 9-5, with a commute.

I commuted into London for 15 years, but I easily forget how tiring it is, and how little energy it leaves you for the other stuff (in my case, family time, walking the [...]

Two vineyards 100 m apart. One treated with herbicide, the other allowed to grow a cover crop.

So where are we up to with soils and wines?

We began by exploring the ideas of minerality, and how soils might be having a direct effect on wine quality, even though science seems to indicate that [...]

So, to continue our look at soils and vines, and the making of vines. In part 4, we are going to be focusing on vine roots.

Vine roots respond to the conditions of the soils they are growing in. First of all, a large permanent framework of roots is established, followed by a network of finer [...]