For the last couple of days I’ve been hanging out at Craggy Range, in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. I was last at Craggy in 2007, on my first visit to…
Champagne highlights from 2016, and a resolution for the New Year
It’s new year’s day! It’s normally the time for resolutions, but I’m struggling to think of any. This year I drank quite a bit of Champagne, but there’s room for…
A quick trip to Argentina, with Doña Paula
So we flew. From Santiago, over the Andes, to Mendoza. The two cities are quite close geographically, but very different. Mendoza, in the far east of Argentina, is mostly desert….
Chile, day 3, Viña Errázuriz’s Panquehue winery with Francisco Baettig
The final visit of the first leg of this trip was at Viña Errázuriz’s home base, the winery in Panquehue, Aconcagua Valley, where their Max I vineyard is located. This…
Chile day 2, Errazuriz’s Aconcagua Costa property
Day two of the Chile trip was spent in the Aconcagua, with Errazuriz. We began at the relatively new 230 hectare (of planted vines) Aconcagua Costa property, just 12 km…
Tyrrell’s HVD Semillon 2010 Hunter Valley
Hunter Semillon. One of the wine world’s most distinctive wine styles. This is a good one: the single vineyard HVD from Tyrrell’s with six years’ bottle age. Just beginning to…
How Port wine is made: a film from the 2016 vintage
By Jamie Goode and Treve Ring (Gismondi on Wine) In mid-September, we visited the Douro Valley in Portugal during harvest. We spent quite a bit of time chatting with the…
In Madeira with Blandy’s
I’m in Madeira. It’s my first time on the island. It’s quite a beautiful place. The reason? To find out about Madeira wine, with the island’s largest producer, Blandy’s. Day…
Co-chairing at the International Wine Challenge Tranche 1
This week I have been judging in Tranche 1 of the 2017 version of the international Wine Challenge (IWC). After eight years as a panel chair, I’m now a co-chair…