Wine drinkers are on the whole a pretty conservative lot. We know what we like and we generally stick to it. This applies equally whether we are supermarket shoppers or have developed specialised palates. But one of the joys of the world of wine is its huge diversity, a product of its deeply entrenched localism
Buried treasure in the South West Read More »
November’s Bring a bottle club had the theme of Bordeaux. In advance, this seemed manageable and would surely make the task of blind tasting relatively simple? Well, yes and no, as we shall see. Like the stately and elegant Bordeaux chateau architecture itself, would the evening be a model of precision and orderliness? Rather less
Quality wine develops over time. If a wine has sufficient fruit, acidity, structure and tannins, it can develop over the years in the bottle, in exceptional cases over decades. This is well known in relation to the classic wine regions. But what about up and coming ones – in this case, Roussillon? Most wines in
Ageing gracefully in Roussillon Read More »
Decanter’s Friuli day featured both a master class by Peter McCombie MW and the chance to taste a large range of wines from about 30 producers from this most northeasterly region of Italy. This was a good complement to our recent Mario Schiopetto tasting which showed how house style is important as grape variety. Peter,
Friuli in overview Read More »
With a theme as big as North Italy, the Overton blind tasting group, where each member brings one or more bottles without much conferring, could have been very wide-ranging. We had a fairly representative sample, though no sparkling wine (Prosecco, Franciacorta, Asti) and one obvious classic missing – Amarone della Valpolicella. The selection was stronger
North Italian tour Read More »
For the past two months on this website, six top producers from Tuscany have been giving a day by day account of their harvest. We have now got to the end of the grape picking and there are some great pictures of the celebrations with the workers – the full moon over Southern Tuscany, whole
Hampshire harvest watch – picking grapes Read More »
Those in the know will have heard that there are interesting, high-quality wines coming out of Greece these days. These bear no resemblance at all to the cheap taverna fare of the then wildly exotic holidays of the sixties and seventies. Nor will there be any connection with the wines of the classical Greek world.
The Overton BBC (bring a bottle club) has a cheerfully random air about it. This is particularly the case with ‘BBC1’. As the idea is to taste the wines blind, there is no plan about who will bring what. Usually, this works absolutely fine and often some fascinating themes emerge. By chance, three people will
Veuve Clicquot launched their two 2004 vintages wines – white and rosé – with an interesting comparison. What is the effect of bottling these wines in a normal bottle size, a magnum and a jeroboam? Apart from making a very pretty picture, the answer in a wine of this quality is that there is a
We do not normally associate vineyards with high technology. Vine growing is basically specialised agriculture and all the usual factors for farming apply: soil condition, fertility, drainage, seasons, rain fall, hard work. If you walk through a vineyard on a bright sunny day it is difficult not to be affected by romantic feelings combining perfect
Plotting in Saint Mont Read More »