It may come as something of a surprise but South America is the second highest wine-producing continent, after Europe. It has some strong home markets (especially Argentina) and big exports from Argentina to north America and from Chile to the UK. But does it offer something distinctive? Do each of the main producing countries have
Signature grapes of South America Read More »
If seven people were independently to choose a bottle of quality wine from their own collections and bring them to a blind tasting what is the chance of them bringing similar wines? That two people brought Chardonnay was perhaps not surprising, even if both examples were from the new world. But in the same tasting,
Chardonnay and Chinon … twice? Read More »
The summer of 2003 in the UK has gone down in the British collective memory as famously hot – to be compared to 1976. While Mediterranean Europe has had other hot summers recently, we have not and so the memory of 2003 has grown rather than receded. Janet and I remember house sitting in that
Caviste’s summer wines have been shown at a number of tastings, most memorably in the presence of a crested eagle – a Bateleur no less – at the Hawk Conservancy. The star of the show had to be woken for his early evening snooze in order to make his celebrity appearance but when he did
Most commuters live a routine and humdrum existence. The times of trains are anchors in ours lives. Mine is the 7:35 from Andover, for Rob, occasional guest blogger on this website, it is the same train but for him it is the 7:49 from Overton. People read their newspapers, books and electronic devices. Some work
Tipple of choice on the 7:35? Read More »
Andover Wine Friends’ May tasting was led by Torquil Jack of Carte du Vin … on the basis of his explorations on two wheels of the byways of France and Spain. Torquil and Marion have turned a hobby into an early retirement business, importing wines from small family wineries, mostly unavailable elsewhere in the UK.
The Overton BBC followed up its recent north and south Rhône tasting with a white Rhône evening. But we started with a very welcome interloper brought by one member who generously contributed a bottle of Krug Grande Cuvée Brut to start the evening off. Some rules are made to be broken! It’s not from the
It is a great moment when a book is published which genuinely marks a substantive change in our knowledge. For decades, wine people have been dependent on Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson’s The world atlas of wine and the same team’s Oxford companion to wine as their basic reference books. Oz Clarke and Margaret Rand
Rare Italian varieties Read More »
The old Spain The current buzz in the wine trade is all about the new Spain. Exciting new producers, a whole range of new areas and a spirit of discovery. At the recent annual trade tasting, Wines from Spain 2013, there were many new producers to try. In addition, the UK’s larger companies were showing
The noble Riesling grape variety is probably German in origin. According to Wine grapes, the name has many German synonyms and may be mentioned as far back as 1435. Certainly the variety is suited to Germany’s cold winters, hot summers and long dry early autumns. With its hard wood and late budding, it is equipped