January: a trip to the Ahr Valley, Germany. Pinot Noir country. Thanks Lars Daniels for being my travel companion. February: Zell Am Zee, Austria, for some skiing. Managed one day…
Fedellos do Couto Bastarda, a lovely lighter red from Ribeira Sacra, Spain
This is a beautiful lighter red wine from the Ribeira Sacra region of Spain. It’s from the Merenzao variety, which is the local name for Bastardo (Portugal) and Trousseau (France)….
Some post-Rootstock thoughts on naturalness in wine
[This post was written immediately after the authentic/natural wine festival Rootstock that I attended a month ago. I’ve held off publishing it until now.] The subject of natural wine is…
Analogue in a digital world
Vinyl isn’t dead. That is remarkable, on so many levels. Digital is better than analogue. So we are told. When CDs came along, the days of vinyl were fast running…
Christmas Grower Champagne: Legras Presidence 2007, Savart L’Ouverture and Selosse Initial
Three Christmas grower Champagnes. Quite lovely. Champagne R&L Legras Présidence Vieilles Vignes Brut Grand Cru Chouilly 2007 France Low dosage of 5 g/l, Blanc de Blancs. Very stylish, fresh, lemony…
More Christmas wines: the English contribution
These were three English wines that took part in yesterday’s festivities. The first two were served blind. Hambledon Vineyard Classic Cuvée NV Hampshire, England Tasted blind I reckoned this was…
Christmas Clarets: Lafite, Talbot and Gruaud
There’s something about Bordeaux. It’s fashionable to knock it (I even saw one of my colleagues boasting on social media about how he rarely drinks it), but there’s a reason…
The smashable Juvé & Camps Pinot Noir Brut Rosé
I would love Cava to become more popular and for producers to make a good return on their hard work. But too few Cavas have the easy drinkability and purity…
Champagne Perrier-Jouët Grand Brut NV
Perrier-Jouët is a medium-sized Champagne house with an annual production of around 3 million bottles a year, dating back to 1811. They have just under 180 hectares of their own…