This is an important wine, because of the vineyard that it is made from (pictured above). It’s a very old (1905) Semillon vineyard in Franschhoek owned by Basil Landau. Basil…
New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc Seminar: classic versus alternative styles
Yesterday I took part in a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc seminar at New Zealand House in London. The aim of the seminar was to compare classic styled Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc…
Raising the bar behind us
There’s a human tendency which many of us fall prey to. It’s to do with how we got to where we are today. Putting it metaphorically, we got here by…
O-Port-Unidade 2013 Vintage Port
This is a great project – one that I mentioned last year when I tried a cask sample with lunch. It’s a charity Port project to which 20 of the…
A response to Jon Bonné’s article on Provence rosé
Well respected US author John Bonné has just written an article on Provence rosé for Punch. He’s a clever writer, and understands how to construct an article, but I felt…
The new Exton Park Pinot Meunier Rosé
Had a chance to taste this new varietal Pinot Meunier from Hampshire-based English sparkling wine producer Exton Park, with winemaker Corinne Sealy. She describes Pinot Meunier as ‘a child that…
Amazing Sake tasting with Ueno Gourmet
Had an amazing Sake tasting yesterday with Jörg Müller of Ueno Gourmet (pictured above). We began with the Amabuki Gin No Kurenai Rosé, a Junmai that’s pale pink in colour, made…
Pascal Jolivet Sancerre Sauvage 2012
Sauvignon Blanc is a serious grape. Trust me. It gets a bad rap from some wine writers, but it can achieve amazing results. Look at the fab Tscheppe butterfly wine…
Tesselaarsdal: a brilliant new Pinot Noir from South Africa
There’s a nice story behind this Tesselaarsdal Pinot Noir, which I drank with Greg Sherwood and Higgo Jacobs on Saturday. It’s made by Berene Sauls, who is an employee of…