Writing about the wines of Piemonte, Italy and France
It was great to see lots of happy tasters at yesterday’s ’12 reds tasting’ at Andover Wine Friends. Thanks for being so game with the blind tasting and for all the food that people brought, making for a good evening.  If you were at the tasting, you will remember that there were a number
Cabernet escapes its prison Read More »
Our visit to Yalumba, one of South Australia’s historic wineries, was very much a game of two halves. First a tasting in one of the cunningly reconditioned 175,000-litre fermentation tanks, itself something of a first, then a drive to Pewsey Vale. The tasting was a quick spin around the remarkable range of styles the company
Pewsey Vale: Riesling heaven Read More »
The tag ‘people, places, wines’ perfectly sums up the subtle and profound appeal of Henschke‘s wines. People This is another story of early free settlers in South Australia making a home and a living in a remarkably remote spot. Even today with excellent roads and a short drive from the Barossa Valley, you feel
Henschke – the pinnacle Read More »
Rockford Wines are famous for their Basket Press Shiraz and for an amazing sparkling Shiraz, a true local speciality. But there is much more to their range that that. Visiting the cellar door is an opportunity to taste a good range of less well-known but equally interesting wines. Even, because of enormous demand, you
Rocking Rockford (2) Read More »
My self-imposed rule about ‘postcard’ length posts from my tour of South Australia is going to be sorely tested by Rockford Wines. I really dislike the modern use of ‘iconic’ of wines (and increasingly almost anything) but Rockford would deserve it and I could write at length about them. There really is so much to
Rocking Rockford (1) Read More »
Many wineries claim a unique point-of-difference, few do so as convincingly as Seppeltsfield, on the very edge of the Barossa Valley. As the peak of a large and inventive range of wines, each year since 1978 they have released a single-vintage, 100-year old Grenache-based tawny from their Centennial Cellar. To achieve this each vintage they
Seppeltsfield’s Centurions Read More »
Stepping out of a  café at 9:30 in the morning in Kapunda, Barossa Valley, you feel the heat. And here is why: So there is a difference if 31° C between Kapunda and home … Or even Tuscany.
It’s definitely hot here Read More »
We were greeted warmly at Taylors Wines, Clare Valley – sold in the UK as Wakefield – with a magnificent line-up of wines from the premium St Andrew’s range. A young 2015 Riesling and a fully developed 2007 with honey, mushroom and flinty notes and deep mid gold colour; a very ripe, tropical Chardonnay 2104;
Taylors, Clare Valley Read More »
Sevenhill Cellars, still part of a living Jesuit religious house, has a great history going back to 1851, just 15 years after the first Europeans arrived in South Australia. Pleasingly they continue the tradition of making the traditional fortified wines alongside Clare’s more recent Riesling and Shiraz table wines. Here pictures do tell a story:
Clare valley history: Sevenhill Read More »
