This is a gorgeous Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs (Chardonnay only) Champagne. It’s a little unusual in that it has 4.5 bars pressure rather than the usual 6 bars, but…
Sweet wine season, 12: Churchill’s 20 Year Old Tawny Port
There are two major styles of Port. The first is Ruby (a category including Vintage, Single Quinta, LBV, Crusted, Vintage Character and Ruby) – wines aged for a relatively short…
Impressive Northern Rhône Syrah: Jaboulet’s Thalabert in a new guise
Philippe & Vincent Jaboulet Crozes-Hermitage Nouvelière 2007 Northern Rhône, France This is made from what were the bulk of the Thalabert vineyards, which Philippe and Vincent retained when Jaboulet was…
Domaine Jean Baptiste Senat Minervois: another stunner from the Languedoc
It seems I’m having a bit of joy in the Languedoc. I may have to make a visit soon to see what’s going on. This is a beautifully pure, fresh,…
Fantastic Languedoc wine: d’Aupilhac Les Cocalieres 2007
Simply a note, on a stunner from Sylvain Fadat in the Languedoc, a region I fell in love with many years ago but have somewhat neglected of late. Domaine d’Aupilhac…
Petaluma Croser 2006 Adelaide Hills
Aussie fizz can be really good, as the sparkling wine session at last year’s Landmark Australia Tutorial showed. This is one of Australia’s more ambitious sparklers, and it’s quite impressive,…
Sweet wine season, 9: Hidalgo Triana, an amazing PX sherry
This is amazing stuff. Totally mind-blowing. Very, very sweet and concentrated, but really complex, too. Hidalgo Pedro Ximenez Triana VORS 30 Years Old Sherry Amazing stuff: rich and intense with…
Two classy Spanish reds
I’m painfully aware that while I’ve focused in-depth on Portugal, I’ve neglected Spain. I’m sorry about that. In an attempt to begin to redress this balance, here are two rather…
An incredible Barossa Shiraz – one of the best ever?
I was blown away by this wine. I’ve tasted lots and lots of Barossa reds, and of those, this is perhaps the best – or at least very close to…