As many readers know, my latest book was on wine faults. Titled Flawless, it examines the different wine faults one by one, and tries to put them in context. Ultimately,…
More airport lounge wines
Off to Vancouver, so a bit of time in BA’s T3 Galleries lounge. Sampled the wines, just as I did a couple of weeks ago. Reata Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2016…
Nagano region, Japan (9) Izutsu Winery
Based in Shiojiri, Izutsu Winery is, by Nagano standards, quite a big operation. This is part of the Kikyogahara Wine Valley, which is the oldest wine region in Nagano, with…
Reviewing eight British Airways lounge wines
I find myself in the airport lounge with some time to spare, so I thought I’d write notes on the lounge wines. I’m a geek! Destination this time is Japan…
Central Otago (8) Chard Farm
With just a shade under 100 hectares of their own vineyards, Chard Farm are one of the larger players in the Central Otago region. Their beautifully situated home vineyard, at…
Be a wave catcher
There’s a lot of luck involved in success. I think it’s Gary Player, the legendary South African golfer, who came up with the famous line: ‘the more I practice the…
Are the fake half-price wine deals returning?
A few years back wine writers in the UK campaigned against the fake half-price supermarket wine deals. I even did some filming for Rip Off Britain where we went undercover…
2018 in review: quite a year (part 2 of 2)
June finished with a five day, four city trip to Ireland to promote Beaujolais wines with a series of masterclasses. We did Cork, Dublin, Galway and Limerick. Here I am…
2018 in review: quite a year (part 1 of 2)
2018 began in New Zealand, where I’d been staying for Christmas. It was to be the first of several joy-filled trips to this wonderful country. This time last year, I’d…