Amid excessive travel and a few tight deadlines, I have steadily been writing up my notes from the Pinot Noir 2013 conference in Wellington, New Zealand this January. Over the…
Pinot Noirs from Torii Mor, Oregon
I visited Oregon back in 2008, and one of the wineries I had a look at was Torii Mor. Bid For Wine have managed to secure a stash of these…
Domaine Parigot Savigny Les Vergelesses, a lovely red Burgundy
Really impressed by this, a stylish red Burgundy that marries sweet fruit beautifully with a refined savoury dimension. This is something Burgundy does really well: non-fruit complexity. Domaine Parigot Savigny-Les-Beaune…
The new California: dinner with Kutch and Sandhi
On Monday night I had dinner with two very interesting Californian producers: Rajat Parr of Sandhi Wines, and Jamie Kutch of Kutch wines. It was hosted by Roberson Wine (www.robersonwine.com)…
Sam Neill’s keynote at Pinot Noir 2013
The second keynote at the recent Pinot Noir 2013 conference was given by actor Sam Neill, who has a vineyard – Two Paddocks – in Central Otago. This was a…
Making sense of Matt Kramer, Pinot Noir 2013 keynote
Pinot Noir kicked off with two contrasting keynote speeches, the first of which was delivered by Matt Kramer of the US publication The Wine Spectator, and author of a string…
New Zealand, day 3, in Nelson with Neudorf
I worked out that since November 2008, my first visit to New Zealand, I have visited five times in five years. That’s a significant accrual of air miles. But over…
New Zealand, day 2, Pegasus Bay in the Waipara
There’s a great story behind Waipara winery Pegasus Bay, which was the second visit of my New Zealand tour. Back in 1976, Christchurch neurologist Ivan Donaldson had caught the wine…
In New Zealand, day 1, Central Otago
It was hard to get my head round the contrast. One day I’m shivering in a snowy, dark-skied London. The next, I’m sitting on an internal flight crossing the dividing…