Photo tour around Table Mountain
It is hardly news that Cape Town – the extended area around Table Mountain – is extraordinarily photogenic. But nonetheless here is my photo essay.
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A week of wine in the Western Cape
Janet and I have spent an amazing, experience-packed week in South Africa’s Western Cape. The wine itinerary has been excellently organised by Wines of South Africa. On some days we have already visited two estates by 10.30 in the morning. Other visits have been to bodies like the Chenin Blanc Association, the Stellenbosch University wine
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Western cape photos
South Africa’s Western Cape is famously beautiful and photogenic. Here are a few photos of Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschhoek. Hopefully, they convey something of this remarkable place. Return to South Africa homepageÂ
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A Chenin Blanc welcome
On Sunday I arrived in South Africa to do a 10-day research trip for the WSET, a fantastic opportunity to see the South African wine revolution at first hand. The trip has been organised and in part supported by the Wines of South Africa. This is the national body which promotes the wines, funded by a
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Nebbiolo day!
We are all used now to days which celebrate or draw our attention to something important or special. Apparently this is National School Meals awareness week and Men’s health awareness month. (Are men that stupid that they need a whole month to get to grips with things that might trouble them – well, probably.) But
Andover Wine Friends 10th anniversary tasting and dinner
In November 2007 Janet and I set up Andover Wine Friends with our very first public tasting at The Lights, Andover. Five years on we had a happy party at which members all brought a bottle to share. For our tenth, we held a dinner for 26 in our house and a tasting on the
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Sancerre stars
The two stars of last night’s Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé tasting: Dagueneau 2007 and Cotat 2004: opulent and taut respectively.
Cork Dork – fast track to sommelier
In Cork Dork (Penguin, 2017) Bianca Bosker writes engagingly about her 18-month journey from normal social wine drinker to Certified Sommelier, a first step towards the prestigious Master Sommelier (MS) title. A year and a half may not seem a very long time for this. However, on this account she packed in far more experience,
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Sangiovese in 5 Tuscan regions and … Corsica
I recently had the opportunity to taste six Sangiovese wines in very good circumstances. They were mostly high-quality examples, bought from reputable merchants and stored in good conditions. They all came from the excellent 2010 vintage and, therefore, vintage variation was taken out of the equation. The aim was to see whether I and a
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Five courses, four groups of wines at La Trompette
Monday’s nights can be special nights. This last Monday Janet and I joined eight others in a ‘Michelin madness’ dinner at which we all provided the wines while enjoying the very good cooking – and arresting artwork – at La Trompette in Chiswick. Five fine courses, four groups of wines – Champagne, whites, reds and
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