Writing about the wines of Piemonte, Italy and France
The wines of Austria
Top Austrian whites 2015 I was fortunate enough recently to get the chance to taste the top white wines of the Danubian appellations in Krems, Austria in August 2016. The occasion was the release of the 2015 vintage. Once a year the ÖTW (Österreichische Traditionsweingüter, Austrian traditional wine estates) organise a tasting of all the single-vineyard
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For the second time in a row, we decided to postpone a planned blind tasting on the theme of sparkling wine. While last time the excuse was that it was late July and people were away, this time it was because it was late August. Most of us are so keen on the sparkling wine
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
July’s BBC 2 blind tasting was on the theme of Austria, with recourse to Germany as necessary. As Austrian wines are not widely available in the UK and few wine lovers have Austrian bottles in their collections, we agreed to allow German bottles as a second option. And, let’s be honest, we were all concerned
For much of human history, wine was sweet. Winemakers didn’t have the knowledge to get wines to ferment out completely and so inevitably the result was sweet. And anyway, people like sweet things and, it could be said, some sweetness can cover up a number of faults. In the last twenty years, fashion has dictated
Some wine occasions really stand out. Obviously you need top quality wines or, at least, wines of exceptional interest. Hopefully, there is really good food to go with it. And you certainly want congenial, knowledgeable and appreciative company. Saturday night’s dinner more than met all these criteria. People had clearly searched their cellars for precious
I can remember being told years ago that there are basically two schools of thought about the importance of the right glass for individual wines. There are those who think that reaching for the right glass – the size and shape, the quality of glassware and the feel of the stem – is part of
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