The first day of my vintage experience in South Africa’s Elgin region was spent at Iona. I was with Werner Muller, the winemaker, for the day. Iona have three properties:…
In Elgin, South Africa, day 1
I’m currently in South Africa’s Elgin Valley, which I visited last October for the Chardonnay Symposium. I’m here to experience vintage with four different producers: Iona, Almenkerk, Paul Cluver and…
Gamay focus 27: Lapierre Morgon 2009
I was given this wine to taste blind. It’s always interesting to try things without any clue what they are. I really liked it immediately, but it also tasted a…
The wines of British Columbia, Canada: diversity and purity
This seminar at the Vancouver Wine Festival looked at the diversity of wines coming from British Colombia, and followed on from a previous session focusing on some more of the…
Video: the Mornington Peninsula wine region
I’ve just published two films on my Mornington Peninsula adventures, with an introduction to the region. The two parts go together, and feature many of the key winegrowers who have…
Niepoort’s Clos de Crappe: an unusual, remarkable wine
You can’t put Dirk Niepoort in a box. He’s not your standard winemaker. Who releases a wine called ‘Clos de Crappe’ with the description ‘technically a disaster’? (See above from…
Canadian wine at the Vancouver wine fest: sparkling wine
There’s a buzz around sparkling wine at the moment. Sparkling wine sales account for 11% of global wine sales and this market is growing by 4.5% annually. And it’s something…
Some lovely high-end wines from Catena, Argentina
By a stroke of coincidence, while I was in Victoria (Vancouver Island, not Australia) today I got to try through this set of wines from Argentina star winery Catena, presented…
Pinot Noir 2017, Wellington, New Zealand – a film
While I was attending Pinot Noir 2017, I put together a short-ish film of the proceedings, capturing some of the best moments of the three days. It was a…