Flew into Blenheim, in the Marlborough wine region here in New Zealand this morning. It was a tiny 20-seater plane, buffeted around a bit by the blustery winter weather. I…
Some films
Some films watched en route to NZ. Zombieland is just brilliant. One of the funniest films I’ve seen in a long time. It’s a spoof zombie romp that’s just perfectly…
Greetings from chilly Auckland
It’s a bad idea to plan travel to the southern hemisphere during the heights of a lovely English summer. I’ve traded sun and 28 degrees for wind, rain and grey…
Chilling in Changi: Rule 32, enjoy the little things
Singapore’s Changi airport totally rocks! Since I was here last year it has got even better. I”ve got a few hours here before heading onwards and upwards to Auckland. So…
A thought experiment: is wine just what is in the glass?
Imagine you were a synthetic chemist, smitten with wine. You tried a great Burgundy, and you simply couldn’t get this wine out of your mind. Sadly, your salary as a…
Some serious English Fizz: Ridgeview Cavendish 2007
This is brilliant stuff. At the Oddbins mixed case price of £16 it’s really good value; it’s certainly worth the regular £20 price. One to serve to those who haven’t…
A great day’s cricket
Spent the day playing cricket. Wine Trade vs. Hampshire Hogs, down at their beautiful ground in Warnford. Last year we beat them narrowly (report here). So would we repeat the…
Ladybirds
Recently spotted on my vines, a couple of different ladybird species. Above we have the kidney spot ladybird, Chilocorus renipustulatus. It’s welcome: it eats scale insects such as mealybugs. Below,…
Another serious South African
This is a really superb Cabernet Sauvignon from South Africa. It’s beautifully put together with seamless structure and real purity of fruit. If I have one criticism of it, however,…