It was a gloriously sunny day here in London. I discovered, to my great advantage, that my netbook screen is visible even in bright sunlight, so I spent the morning…
Tasting a sample of wine sort of sucks
Don’t get me wrong. I love big tastings where you get a chance to taste lots of wine. It’s an incredible opportunity for a wine writer to be able to…
Two natural Beaujolais
Two interesting expressions of Beaujolais, from a couple of the natural wine crowd. Beaujolais is a real hub of natural winemakers, many of whom were inspired by the late Jules…
At Wimbledon, drinking fizz and watching The Fed
Had a super day’s fun at Wimbledon today. Hospitality courtesy of Champagne Lanson saw a troop of wine press gather on a perfect day for tennis, including Tim Atkin, Anthony…
Another good South African
I currently have a few decent South African wines in the tasting queue. Here’s one that yielded a good deal of pleasure: ripe and modern, but not spoofy. Englebrecht Els…
Flowering has started and the hats are coming off
Flowering has started on my Pinot Noir vines. You’ll see that some of the flowers have emerged; others still have their caps on. These browning caps can cause botrytis later…
The England football team…
…are staying in the Vineyard Hotel in Newlands, Cape Town. I checked by blog and found out that I stayed there back in November 2005 (entry is on this page,…
Visiting Laithwaites, one of the UK’s most important wine merchants
Yesterday I visited Laithwaites’ large wine shop in Vinopolis, near London Bridge station. I tasted a selection of the range and then had lunch with buying director Justin Howard-Sneyd (above)…
A superb South African Merlot
I’m not the world’s greatest Merlot fan, and so I was pleasantly surprised by this superb South African Merlot, from Hartenberg, a winery I visited on my first trip to…