I love it when I find a really nice wine at an everyday sort of price. This fits the bill: a Catalan white wine from Coca i Fitó in Terra Alta,…
Alvaro Palacios, the Decanter man of the year
Ever since 1984, UK wine magazine Decanter have bestowed an accolade on a figure from the the world of wine, crowning them man of the year. The first recipient was…
Meeting Pepe Raventós
I popped into Mission E2 last night before dinner to meet up with Pepe Raventós. What a dude. His family have been super-important in the development of Cava – until recently…
Two from Spain: Basconcillos and Sandoval
After posting on two Portuguese wines yesterday, I thought I’d stay in the Iberian peninsula and write up two Spanish bottles. The Basconcillos is a low-SO2 red that’s brilliant value…
Do Ferreiro Albariño Cepas Vellas from 200 year old vines
This was a remarkable Albariño, made from a one-hectare plot of vines that’s over 200 years old. It’s made by Gerardo Méndez of Do Ferreiro, who farms 10 hectares, split into…
Viña Tondonia Reserva 2002, in a supermarket near you
López de Heredia, who make Tondonia, is one of the classic old Rioja houses. They are super-traditional, and make fabulously old fashioned and brilliantly ageable wines. They are not for…
Don’t spit great wine!
In the wine trade, we taste. And then we spit. Have to, really, otherwise we’d all be permanently drunk and would die young. Sometimes, though, a wine is too good…
How sherry is transferred from cask to cask
A short film showing the way that sherries are transferred from cask to cask in the solera/criadera system. This is biologically aged sherry (fino), so a special device is used…
Writing up my sherry adventure, and a special plug for Bar Arturo
I have just written up the first two parts of a five part series on my sherry adventure in October, when I got to visit Jerez and helped blend the…