The first day of this year’s International Wine Challenge was a huge success. It’s the biggest yet, in terms of entries, and this was the first day at a new…
More Top 100 judging
Yesterday was another glorious day, most of which was spent judging wines. This year’s Top 100 South African Wines has seen a higher standard of entries than last year. In…
A day of firsts
Today was a day of firsts. At 7 am, before the judging of the Top 100, Duncan Savage took three of us out for our first experience of surfing. We…
Big fat gypsy wedding and the Andre Simon Award
Yesterday was action packed. After travelling into London for a client meeting, it was back home, in time to witness a remarkable spectacle. Have you ever seen the Channel 4…
Jean-Marc Sauboua’s 50th bash
Just back from Vintner’s Hall in London, where tonight saw the 50th birthday celebration of Laithwaites/Direct Wines winemaker Jean-Marc Sauboua. The quality of the turn-out showed just how highly people…
Judging at the Sommelier Wine Awards
Spent the day judging at the Sommelier Wine Awards, which is run by Imbibe magazine. The idea is to award medals to wines that deserve a place on a good wine…
Why are tasting notes so bad? Can anything be done?
Just been browsing the tasting notes on a well known wine website (I will spare the name; I don’t want to be mean to this fine publication, because the problem…
A day in Madrid. Only just.
Just spent the day in Madrid judging the malolactic wine awards. Now this may seem a little technical and unusual, but it’s a contest for red wines from Spain and…
How we approach wine alters our perception
Most readers will be familiar with the picture of the old hag/beautiful woman. It’s a simple drawing in black and white, but whether you see a young woman or a…