Tiger Vines is a small import business run by James Thomas. He worked with Domaine Laroche, then spent two years at Majestic Wine, three years at Bibendum and eight years…
A pruning masterclass: cane-pruning Sauvignon in Marlborough
This morning Mike Eaton kindly took me out to a vineyard he’s working with in the Awatere Valley (Marlborough, New Zealand) to give a quick pruning masterclass. Here’s the film –…
A mixed case of reds from The Wine Society
Following hot on the heels from my selection of 12 top whites from The Wine Society tasting, here are notes on 12 top reds. There’s some great drinking here: these…
Texsom: S&M wines seminar
Not all wines are easy. There’s a stream of thought in the wine world that the wine industry should do better at giving ‘consumers’ what they want. We change wines…
Top wines from ProWein 2017
[This is a post in collaboration with my Canadian colleague Treve Ring.] There are wine trade shows the world over, but there is only one that covers all bases from…
Zorah Karasi, an interesting wine from Armenia
This is an interesting wine, the brainchild of an Italian-based Armenian, Zorik Gharibian. After extensive research he purchased some land in Vayotz Dzor, which is historically the key Armenian wine…
Heida: a brilliant Swiss white wine
Swiss wines are great, but they’re rarely seen out of Switzerland. This is a mountain wine, grown at an altitude of 1150 metres, which makes it one of the highest…
Le Soula Blanc 2007 – a remarkable wine from the Roussillon
I really like this. It’s the latest release from Roussillon producer Le Soula, a partnership between UK wine merchant Richards Walford and celebrated winemaker Gerard Gauby, who discovered this wonderful…
A Frenchman in Portugal: Francois Lurton’s Douro wines
Francois Lurton (website here) makes wine in France, Chile, Argentina, Spain and now Portugal. He bought his first Douro property in 2006 (Quinta Beira), and has subsequently added a second (Quinta…