Ever since I first arrived at Pinhão station in Portugal’s Douro Valley, I’ve been amazed by its beautiful blue tiles (azulejos). Overall, there are 3024 of these hand-painted tiles, arranged…
Grower Champagne: Larmandier-Bernier Latitude Blanc de Blancs
Larmandier-Bernier is one of the leading lights of grower Champagne. The domaine, which consists of 15 hectares of vines in the Côtes des Blancs, is farmed by Sophie and Pierre…
Albariño series (3) Terras Gauda O Rosal 2017 Rías Baixas, Spain
Technically, I shouldn’t be including this wine in my series because it’s a blend, in this case of 70% Albariño, 20% Caiño and 10% Loureiro. Stainless steel fermented with vineyard…
Some red wine highlights from Bibendum
Following my round-up of white wine highlights from the recent Bibendum (major UK agent/wholesaler) tasting, here are some nice reds from their range. A few real gems here. Gal Tibor…
The importance of the stuff around wine, with reference to West Ham United
It’s not just about a liquid in a bottle. The stuff around it matters more than we realise. The BBC recently put together a short film about the effect on…
Some white wine highlights from Bibendum
These were some of the white wine highlights from a recent portfolio tasting with major UK agency business Bibendum. Litmus Element 20 2013 Surrey, England This is lovely: really expressive with…
We don’t want our wines to taste nicer, but truer
When I started drinking wine as a student, I was bottom feeding. Buying cheap wines from supermarkets. Most tasted bad. Now wine tastes better, even at the bottom end. That’s…
J Bouchon Granito Semillon 2016 Maule, Chile
This is a remarkable wine. I tasted it when Tim Atkin brought it along to the International Wine Challenge one morning: he’d opened it the previous evening, and as it…
Dinner at Roots, Lyttelton: one of New Zealand’s great foodie destinations
While we were down in Christchurch, it was great to be able to visit Roots in Lyttelton. It’s a much-talked about New Zealand foodie destination and the only restaurant outside…