Great day today. It was Wine Trade vs Further Friars, down at Keevil in Wiltshire, on a perfect late summer’s day. The game was great – more on that later…
Northern Rhone Series 11, Tardieu Laurent Cornas Coteaux
My second visit to Tardieu Laurent in this northern Rhone series (previously here). This is a really impressive interpretation of Cornas, an excellent appellation that sometimes gets a bad press…
Northern Rhone series 9, Delas Les Challeys St Joseph
Continuing my northern Rhone series, I’m sticking with St Joseph. It’s an appellation with a reputation for inconsistency, but there are clearly some very good terroirs here. This is a…
Northern Rhone series 8, Tardieu Laurent St Joseph
Continuing with the northern Rhone series, and the third in a run of St Josephs, this time from superstar negociant Tardieu-Laurent. Originally involving Dominique Laurent, this firm is now run…
Northern Rhone series 7, Coursodon Silice St Joseph 2007
The Northern Rhone journey continues. Sticking with St Joseph, an appellation with some excellent terroirs as well as some poorer ones, we move to a superb example from 2007. This…
Sacred Hill Deerstalkers Syrah 2009
Now this is a remarkable New Zealand Syrah, from the famous Gimblett Gravels terroir of Hawkes Bay. It’s a style I like a good deal, and which I predict has…
Northern Rhone series 6, Gilles Barge Clos des Martinets St Joseph 2001
I don’t make whole-case purchases all that often. Usually I find that 12 of a particular wine is a little too much. 6 is usually better. But this is the…
Northern Rhone series 5, Jamet Cote Rotie 1999
This wine is a favourite of mine, and I’ve drunk it on perhaps a dozen occasions. Well stored bottles, like this one, are really singing now, but there’s no hurry…
St Hallett Dawkins Vineyard Shiraz
Now this is interesting. It’s a new single-vineyard Shiraz from Barossa producer St Hallett, and it has bags of personality. It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but it’s distinctive and…