A spot of blind tasting Blind tasting is fun. It isn’t the only way to taste, and I don’t think it’s necessarily all that useful to assess fine wines blind…
Getting ready for Christmas, and choosing some wine
Christmas eve has been a nice family day so far. A quick dog walk, a visit with the boys to Fiona’s folks in Lightwater, some last-minute present buying, off with…
Bordeaux prices, then and now
Was Bordeaux more affordable in times gone by? With the help of a 1909 price list from Berry Bros & Rudd and the website www.measuringworth.com, I thought I’d find out….
Natural wine, a primer
One of the hot topics of the wine world is the concept of ‘Natural Wine.’ Travel to Paris, and you will find lots of bars that specialize in vins natruels….
Gulfi’s delicious Cerasuolo di Vittoria
Gulfi is an organic winery in Sicily, specializing in local grape Nero d’Avola. I recently tried through their range, which is characterized by big, structured, burly expressions of this grape….
Fruity with a hint of drought, an article of mine in Nature
Those with a science background will understand why I’m chuffed to have got an article into the comments section of leading scientific journal Nature. It’s on the subject of climate…
A brilliant Rioja: Phincas
I was introduced to this wine by David Sampedro Gil, the winemaker behind DSG Vineyards, a relatively new project looking to make a range of wines from some of Spain’s…
Pay-to-play and wine writer ethics
I apologize for talking about talking about wine, but there’s a lot of discussion on wine writer ethics at the moment. This discussion has been led by the excellent Palate…
A tasty Malbec from the Loire
I was interested by this wine. Really modern packaging, and use of the variety name Malbec rather than the normal Touraine name for this grape, Cot. It’s riper than the…