Crystallum is the wine label of Peter-Allan Finlayson (above), who set up in partnership with his brother (Andrew, a Hermanus-based architect) and his Dad (Peter, who was the first winemaker…
Burgundy 2016: a great tasting at Faiveley
Domaine Faiveley, located in Nuits-Saint-George, are one of the big players in Burgundy. We visited with Erwan Faively, who took charge of the domaine in 2005. When he took over there…
Two superb Kiwi Chardonnays: Black Estate Home and Tony Bish Golden Egg
Just been for a short break in Akaroa, and tried a couple of very nice Chardonnays. One was from Tony Bish, long-time Hawke’s Bay winemaker with Sacred Hill who has…
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…
New releases from Kutch: truly elegant Californian Pinot Noir
The new releases from Jamie Kutch are out. You can read more about him here: he’s making particularly elegant expressions of Pinot Noir from northern California, and also a lovely…
Video: in Elgin for the Chardonnay Colloquium
Here’s a film from my recent visit to South Africa’s Egin wine region for the Chardonnay Colloquium:
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…