Here’s a film from my recent visit to South Africa’s Egin wine region for the Chardonnay Colloquium:
Lunch at the Short Market Club, Cape Town
Had a brilliant lunch experience today in Cape Town, at the Short Market Club. It’s a newish restaurant that’s an offspring of two of Cape Town’s most celebrated eateries, the…
Elgin Chardonnay Colloquium: Elgin versus the rest of the world, a blind tasting
This was very interesting: as part of the Elgin Chardonnay Colloquium, we did a blind tasting with 21 different wines, pitching Elgin’s finest against some international benchmarks. Michael Fridjhon and…
Elgin Chardonnay Colloquium: tasting 16 Chardonnays from 2016
This weekend is the second instalment of the Elgin Chardonnay Colloquium, and as part of yesterday’s proceedings, we tried 16 different wines from the 2016 vintage. This is a warmer,…
Three lovely Hawke’s Bay Chardonnays
Hawke’s Bay is becoming quite well known for its Chardonnay. It’s a grape that New Zealand hasn’t really owned in the same way as it has for Sauvignon Blanc and…
Score inflation is everywhere and it’s killing wine criticism
Back in 1984, I sat my ‘O’ level exams at the Royal Grammar School in High Wycombe. I was a quiet, geeky pupil – a classic in-betweener, friends with some…
The amazing Vanguardist Wines, from South Australia
I was really pleased to try these wines (thanks to Christina Rasmussen for getting these samples to me). They’re from a relatively new project, Vanguardist, which is a collaboration between…
New releases from Neudorf, Nelson, New Zealand
Just tried a lovely set of new releases from leading Nelson winery Neudorf. Neudorf Rosie’s Block Chardonnay 2016 Nelson, New Zealand 13.5% alcohol. This has lovely richness, but because it’s…