This is such a distinctive, perfumed, floral red wine. It’s from Piedmont, and made from a very rare red grape variety called Ruché, of which there are only 40 hectares…
New Kiwi wines from Rod Easthope
I first met Rod Easthope when he was winemaker at Craggy Range, based in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, back in 2008. I met him again in 2010 at the Hawkes…
Kershaw, a brilliant new South African Chardonnay
It has been a year of debuts in South Africa. First, the remarkable wines from Duncan Savage, and now this – Richard Kershaw MWs first solo venture, a Chardonnay from…
Some amazing fine wines at The Sampler
Each Christmas The Sampler puts some rather special wines on its sampling machines, and this year is no exception. I popped into the South Kensington shop to try them; Islington…
Single hop beers, an interesting geeky angle on beer
It’s interesting to see more beers labelled by hop variety, much in the way that wines are labelled by grape variety. Hops are fashionable at the moment – and I,…
Christian Seely talks sense on the 2013 vintage in Bordeaux
I was very impressed by this blog post from Christian Seely who is managing director of AXA Millésimes, and therefore in charge of a number of wine estates, including Pichon, Petit…
Senejac, a bargain Christmas Claret
I was really impressed by this pair of Christmas Clarets, currently available for £16.99 from The Co-op. It’s two vintages of Chateau Senejac. I tried the 2009 last year and rated…
Grape varieties and the diversity of wine
There’s another interesting piece by Andrew Jefford in Decanter looking at a census of grape varieties. He states: The plantings of the major varieties are steadily growing more dominant. Some…
Chateau Margaux 1993
‘Gourmet dinner Saturday night?’ enquired brother-in-law Beavington by text. ‘I have something VERY special.’ So, on Saturday night we headed over to my sister’s place for dinner. The special item…