This has to be my best value white of the year. It’s part of an excellent offer of Iberian whites by the Wine Society, and after I tasted it I…
50 Great Portuguese wines, 2011
Today was one of the most eagerly awaited tastings in the calendar (for me, at least) – the 50 Great Portuguese Wines tasting. Each year, a journalist is chosen to…
What wine writers buy: four great cheap wines
OK, I can only speak for myself. Despite being deluged in samples (which is great, by the way – so useful to be able to try wines at home, and…
Lunch with Frank Cornelissen and his fabulous Etna wines
Yesterday’s lunch was special. It was a chance to catch up with Frank Cornelissen (above), a winegrower from Sicily’s Mount Etna, over lunch at Hibiscus. Frank works as naturally as…
Ale at the White Horse
It has been a fun weekend. We headed over to my sister’s place on Friday intending to stay for lunch; we ended up staying two nights. I had to send…
Some nice South African wines
So as well as judging (which is totally blind – we don’t even know the identity of the wines that have entered the competition), we’re managing to try some wine…
A fun dinner in Portugal with some nice wines
Had a great time last night at the conference dinner. The food was bad, but the company was good and the wines were excellent. I’m pictured above with a magnum…
A lovely white Burgundy from Sauzet
Sometimes the hierarchy of Burgundy vineyards can be a bit of a problem. It magnifies the label effect: when critics see the name Grand Cru on a label, it usually…
Incredible Japanese lunch with Koshu wines
Superb lunch today, at Yashin Sushi and Bar (‘without soy sauce’) in Kensington (see the Square Meal review). The occasion was the 2011 installment of the Koshu producers tour. [I…