Luis Pato is perhaps the most famous face in Bairrada, even though he’s had a bit of a love-hate relationship with the regional authorities, that led him for a time…
The wines of Quinta das Bágeiras, Bairrada
Mário Sérgio’s Quinta das Bágeiras is one of the leading wineries in Bairrada. He created the domaine in 1989 from 12 hectares of vines he got from his grandfather, and…
Filipa Pato and William Wouters: groundbreaking wines from Bairrada, Portugal
Filipa Pato is the daughter of Luis Pato, and she’s been making wine for a while now under her own name. But she really found her direction when she began…
Tasting the wines of the Buçaco Palace Hotel, one of Portugal’s treasures
The Buçaco (Bussaco) Palace Hotel is one of Portugal’s most striking bits of Neo-Manueline architecture. It’s almost impossibly ornate, with incredibly elaborate stone carvings rammed in just about everywhere. But…
In Austria: tasting exciting older 1er cru wines from the Österreichischer Traditionsweingüter members
Austria is making some wonderful wines at the moment, and this tasting was a chance to look back at some of the Rieslings from ‘Erste Lagens’ (which translates as ‘Premier…
Nine BA lounge whites, a bit of a mixed bunch, but some surprises
There are quite a few bottles open in the BA lounge (I’m off travelling again…), so I did a tasting. I’m following the example of one of my wine heroes,…
Texsom: exploring the wines of Mexico
Serafin Alvarado and Wayne Belding presented this seminar on Mexican wines, a subject I’ve virtually no experience of. Mexico isn’t an obvious place to grow high quality wine grapes: it’s…
Texsom: some Oregon whites
Today’s team lunch at Texsom featured Oregon wines. But no reds! This was a chance to look at some of Oregon’s whites, and also to branch out beyond the Willamette…
Fine cool climate Aussie wines from Frankland Estate
Head 250 km east of the Margaret River wine region in Western Australia, and you’ll hit the remote Frankland River region. With the coast quite a distance south, this is…