These three lovely wines were brought round by guests. The best sort of guests. The Leflaive Pucelles was served blind, and in a stroke of lucky intuition, I guessed it…
Kopke Colheita Ports back to 1941
Colheitas are single vintage Tawny Ports (that is, Ports that have been aged for a long time in large oak barrels, rather than bottled after a few years and aged…
Some more pictures from the road
Some more pictures from the road. I’m now back from the quick Spain and Portugal trip, but I thought I’d share these. First of all, a couple of pictures from…
On the road in Spain and Portugal
Today is the third day of a brief three day trip taking in Galicia (Spain) and the Minho (northern Portugal). I’m travelling with Nick Oakley, visiting his agencies in the…
The wine boats of the Douro river
This is a great film. It’s titled ‘The wine boats of the Douro river’, and it represents a very different Douro than that of today, shot in 1923. This was…
Two from Portugal: Vale Meão 2005 and Casa de Mouraz Elfa 2010
Portugal is a wonderful wine country, and one that I’ll be focusing on a bit this year, after having let it suffer mild neglect at my hands. Here are two…
The Portuguese Pinot Noir, Quinta de Sant’Ana
Pinot Noir? From Portugal? With so many of its own grape varieties to focus on, you’d think Portugal has little to gain from trying to make Pinot Noir. But why…
Cervejaria Ramiro, Lisbon – a must visit
Earlier in the year, when I was in Lisbon with the fabulous Young Winemakers of Portugal (who, incidentally, have just been written up on the BBC news site), I was…
Sandeman Vau Vintage Port 2003
I remember the excitement of discovering that Oddbins were selling the 1997 version of this wine for just £5 for a half bottle back in 2001. This was in the…