Popped into the cosy and wonderful Bar Pepito yesterday to try the new Las Palmas sherries from Gonzalez Byass, with Martin Skelton. This year’s selection, 2017, was made by Pedro…
Vignes Préphylloxérique: a Tannat made from ungrafted vines planted in 1871
For the last few days I have been with Plaimont Producteurs in southwest France. They are a sizeable company who source from 5000 hectares of vines and make 38 million…
Wine writing is drowning
Wine writing is in its death throes, and there’s not much that can be done about it. [If it’s not already dead, that is.] Why? It is because it is…
Visiting two excellent sake producers
On my recent Japanese trip I had a chance to visit two high-end artisanal sake breweries. It was really interesting, especially coming from a wine background, to see how sake…
Three from Melville, Santa Barbara County, California
Tried these three from Melville, in Sta Rita Hills (It’s no longer allowed to be Santa Rita Hills on the label, because of a complaint by a well known Chilean…
In my wandering, am I lost?
I woke in the middle of the night. This occasionally happens. When it does, my mind is frequently overactive. The dead of night is rarely the best time to think…
Highlights from Norman Hardie: some of Canada’s best wines yet
I’ve written extensively about Norman Hardie’s wines before. But on this recent trip I tried some of his wines that astonished me, and are really next-level. These have to be…
A few days of gastronomic overload in Montréal
I can’t believe it took me so long to visit Montréal. Canada’s second largest city (with a population of 2 million, but double that in the metropolitan area), it’s a…
Wines from Chapel Hill, McLaren Vale
I recently tasted through the range from McLaren Vale producer Chapel Hill, whose wines I hadn’t seen in a while. I was impressed. ‘The past 12 years have been a…