Late last year I had a lovely time attending Rootsock Sydney. It’s a lovely not-for-profit wine fair focusing on natural wines. One of the very best. I really enjoyed it,…
Dinner with Dan at Noble Rot: Raveneau, Lynch Bages and Dervieux Thaize
Had a lovely dinner with Dan Keeling at Noble Rot last night. The food was as good as ever, and the wines were just thrilling. I’ve rarely drunk as well,…
Wolf Blass Black Label Vertical, 1974-2012
This is the 50th year of Wolf Blass as a wine company, and it’s also the 40th vintage of the Wolf Blass Black Label. So winemaker Chris Hatcher was in…
Mother Rock and Force Majeure: brilliant wines from Stompie Meyer
Johan ‘Stompie’ Meyer is one of the most highly regarded of South Africa’s new wave winegrowers. He makes the wines for Mount Abora (as a consultant), and has his own…
Craft Dark Milk Chocolate tasting with Cocoa Runners
A while back I went to my first ever chocolate tasting. It was held at the Winemakers Club under the arches at Farringdon, with Spencer Hyman of Cocoa Runners. The…
Stolpman Vineyards: Syrah and Roussanne from limestone soils in California
Website: Stolpman Vineyards Back in the 1970s, Tom Stolpman, who was then in his late teens, was running a valet car parking service in the Hollywood Hills to help him…
Provence Rosé: 24 leading examples tasted
I’m quite a fan of Provence rosé, which is one of the wine world’s big success stories. Quality has improved, and although it’s rare to find an example that stops…
Conceito Bastardo 2007 Douro, Portugal
A few years ago – back in November 2008 – I was judging wine in Porto. I met up with some Portuguese wine people for dinner, and ended up leaving…
Framingham Classic Riesling 2008 Marlborough, New Zealand
This is, I think, the last bottle of a batch of this wine that I bought very inexpensively a few years ago. This is the thing with Riesling: if you…