Today I began a report on a visit to Franschhoek. It’s a wine region that is often misunderstood: the narrative is, that as the leading gastronomic destination in the Cape,…
‘Eating sugar’: why old sweet wines often taste drier
There’s a well known phenomenon in the world of wine that so far has been unexplained. It’s the way that as sweet wines age, they taste less sweet. If you…
Thörle Spätbrugunder 2013 Rheinhessen, Germany
I’m a big Pinot Noir fan. I just love it when it is good, and increasingly it’s becoming much easier to find decent Pinot from around the world, and not…
If you were a wine… wines as people
If you were a wine, what wine would you be? It’s an immensely silly question, but a fun one. It’s actually even more fun to ask a friend: what wine…
The new releases from Delaire Graff, a leading South African winery
On my recent trip to South Africa, I had dinner at the lovely, super-luxurious Delaire Graff, preceded by a tasting with winemaker Morne Vrey and marketing manager Katherine Harris. Morne’s…
Gamay focus, 10 – Puy de Dôme Gamay 2013 from the Auvergne
I recently wrote about the wines from Caves Saint Vernay in France’s Auvergne, a volcanic terroir in the south of the Loire. Well, next stop on my Gamay journey is…
Matrot Meursault 2012
When white Burgundy is good, it is peerless. Well, almost, as the recent Kumeu River tasting showed. This is a good one. It’s from Thierry and Pascale Matrot, and it’s…
A great lunch at Social Wine and Tapas, with Savart and Pignan
Charles Spence, the noted red-trousered Professor of Experimental Psychology at Oxford University wrote one of my favourite books of late, titled The Perfect Meal. I think I had a lunch…
‘Down with wine dogma’ – a comment on the alcohol level debate
A friend alerted me to this blog post by the excellent Ray Isle, which contains an open letter by Californian winemaker Sean Thackrey on alcohol levels and wine. Thackrey is…