Yesterday I visited one of the world’s most remarkable winery buildings. I had dinner at the Marqués de Riscal ‘City of Wine’. I’d heard about Riscal’s bold architecture, but it’s…
At Contino, Rioja, with winemaker Jesús Madrazo
Contino is an estate-based winery, which is unusual in Rioja. It’s based on a 62 hectare vineyard that is at the beginning of Rioja Alavesa, not far from Logroño. The…
Alvaro Palacios, the Decanter man of the year
Ever since 1984, UK wine magazine Decanter have bestowed an accolade on a figure from the the world of wine, crowning them man of the year. The first recipient was…
Viña Tondonia Reserva 2002, in a supermarket near you
López de Heredia, who make Tondonia, is one of the classic old Rioja houses. They are super-traditional, and make fabulously old fashioned and brilliantly ageable wines. They are not for…
Don’t spit great wine!
In the wine trade, we taste. And then we spit. Have to, really, otherwise we’d all be permanently drunk and would die young. Sometimes, though, a wine is too good…
So what does a 89 year old table wine taste like?
I have just written up a Marques de Murrieta Rioja tasting, where we got to drink, among other lovely older wines, a bottle of Castillo Ygay 1925. It was remarkable….
Lindes de Remelluri 2010 – a lovely new-wave Rioja
I was really impressed by this new-wave Rioja from Remelluri. 2010 was the first vintage with Telmo Rodriguez back at the helm of the family winery, and this is a…
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…
Two super Spanish wines, one red, one white, one cheap, one not
Berry Bros & Rudd have been putting a lot of work into their Spanish and Italian lists of late, and the results are very encouraging. Here are two lovely Spanish…