2003 – the season Everyone knows that 2003 was an exceptionally hot year in Europe. Janet and I spent a small part of that summer working in the large garden of friends and found ourselves having to adopt habits more typical of Mediterranean countries – get up early and work outside until late morning, have
The four colours of 2003 Dom Perignon Read More »
The Bring a Bottle Club was in a rather different format for its late January tasting, or rather a refinement of its format. We already have ‘BBC1’ which is ‘bring an interesting/good bottle of any sort’, while ‘BBC2’ has a theme, on this occasion, white Burgundy. The refinement was that one of our number offered
Andover Wine Friends’ January tasting gave the opportunity to review the stirrings of a quiet revolution going on in the heel of Italy. Puglia’s recent history – to add to the waves of foreign overloads going back to Greek times – has been of a reduction of the huge production, overproduction, of the 1980s (13
Puglia – the quality revolution Read More »
Burgundy en primeur week in London gives a chance to taste the 16 month-old wines which have been bottled specially for this purpose – see the previous post; this post focuses on the wines. As Burgundy is a relatively northern location for wine growing, there is big vintage variation due to the weather conditions in
Burgundy 2010 – a first view Read More »
The first full working week of January is a highlight of the English wine trade’s year. If you have the stamina you can spend every hour of the working week tasting the new season’s wines. Jancis Robinson complained and celebrated the fact that her team of three would be aiming to taste and write a
En primeur – spotting potential Read More »
One birthday at the Overton blind tasting group, marked by the last of three bottles of a special wine. Lively, bubbles, youngish tasting bright fruit, mild nuttiness, noticeable acidity, balanced and attractive – but not really giving its origins away. One member in the group in the trade thought it was very, very good Cava
Birthday bubbles, streams of Syrah Read More »
January’s Fine Wine Supper featured the wines of top Alsace producer, Josmeyer. It is always worthwhile to taste the wines of the most well-known domaines, to see if they continue to live up to their reputations. Here they emphatically did. All six wines were very good, some – in fact, the cheapest as well as
Pinot Gris in the limelight Read More »
It has been a demanding week – work has been full on, Diploma viticulture and vinification exam on Wednesday evening, Christmas hovering closer. So instead of lots of words, here is a list and a pictorial version of the ‘bring a bottle club’ for December. Normal service will be resumed shortly! Don’t miss the picture of
That there is a competitive streak among many men is hardly an earth-shattering observation. Wine tasting can be social, relaxed, erudite and many other things but it also can be competitive. Ben Llewellyn, MD of Caviste set up Thursday evening’s tasting as a competition – between two of Europe’s best established and prestigious regions. Burgundy
Burgundy v Piedmont Read More »
The story of Nicolas Feuillatte Champagne does not need to be retold here. It is a text book case of excellent marketing (the Feuillatte name) allied to a huge union of cooperatives who are are the number 1 producer by volume of Champagne both in France and the UK. Under expert guidance they produce a
Champagne Feuillatte: big numbers, quality bottles Read More »