Australian Chardonnay doesn’t have a great image these days. But, as the Landmark Tutorial last year showed, it’s a serious category. Here’s a new wine to me, which I really…
Day two of the Challenge, including some lovely Pinot Noir
Another busy day at the International Wine Challenge today. I had another good, hard-working table, and we tasted 131 wines together. Two flights stood out. The first was a flight…
Day one of the 2010 IWC
Off to the Barbican today, in the City of London, for day 1 of the 2010 instalment of the International Wine Challenge – the world’s largest blind tasting wine competition….
Taste Portuguese wines tomorrow!
A quick plug for a chance to taste Portuguese wines tomorrow at Lord’s. It’s a consumer tasting organized by Viniportugal, and incorporates the ‘Big Tasting’ live with Oz Clarke, in…
A long, sunny walk and some good beer
A friend was staying, so today we took RTL on a long walk in Windsor Great Park, ending up in the Fox and Hounds for a couple of pints of…
Two Chilean Pinots from Cono Sur
These are both good wines, offering some Pinot Noir character at a good price, but they’re a bit lacking in elegance. I’d recommend them, but only on the basis of…
Goose Island Honker’s Ale – like British ale but better!
Just back from the pub where I enjoyed a lovely pint of Goose Island Honker’s ale. It’s like a British cask-conditioned ale, but a bit better (I say this at…
Two Belgian beers
One of my occasional forays into the world of beer. These are two very interesting beers, widely available in most supermarkets, and inexpensive (particularly when compared with good quality wines)….
Feitoria: demarcating the Douro
On my recent visit to Quinta Nova in the Douro (which I have just written up here), I came across a large granite stone with the imprint ‘Feitoria 1758’. This is…