Txomin Rekondo’s restaurant is a wine lover’s dream. He’s allowed his cellar to get completely out of control. With 150 000 wines, and a wine list that consists of a…
Some Rhône treats
Quite a few impressive Rhône wines at yesterday’s Bunch tasting. Here are some I enjoyed a lot. Alain Graillot Crozes Hermitage 2011 Northern Rhône, France Is this Graillot’s best yet?…
Lunch at 28-50 with Philippe Pacalet
Great lunch today. It was at the new 28-50 in Maddox Street, with Philippe Pacalet, who I have met a couple of times before. Also present were Philippe’s wife, Monica,…
Some picture highlights from the Beautiful South tasting
I went to the Beautiful South tasting at Olympia, London, today. It was brilliant. Three countries – South Africa, Argentina and Chile – combined to put on quite a show,…
A brilliant, crazy South African wine
This is a brilliant wine. It’s unusual, as you might expect from a wine called ‘funky white’, made in a solera style with some flor involvement. It’s not really like…
Term starts again, and a tasting at the Perfect Cellar
Holidays are over, and the wine tasting calendar starts again here in London. I was in town for the first tasting in a long time – a small portfolio tasting…
Muscat and Moscato
Just had to do a Sunday Express column on Moscato, which gave me a chance to try a few different ones. I’ve included Muscat here, as well as what we…
Two super Australian Chardonnays: Oakridge and Yalumba
Australian Chardonnay is probably the wine style that has changed most in the last decade. The best examples are totally brilliant, and while I still have a nostalgic fondness for…
Is wine expertise illusory?
There’s been a lot of chat, of late, on whether or not wine expertise is illusory. The media loves the idea that the wine trade is an elaborate fraud, perpetuated…