Writing in the middle of the World Cup in South Africa it is just as well this is about the country’s wine and not about football. Along with most of the other African teams, the home team could not get out of the group stage of the competition. Meanwhile England played poorly and departed in
South African stars Read More »
The thirty miles between Florence and Siena takes you through one of the most famous landscapes in the world of wine. But while the landscape has enduring appeal – gently undulating hills, now smart renovated farms, vineyards, cypresses, woodlands, more vineyards, medieval towns and castles – the wine is little understood. This is because the
Chianti classico finds its soul Read More »
The landscape of wine Before the wine and certainly before words about wine, the landscape of Piemonte – more particularly of the Langhe – is to be celebrated. The town of Barolo has the sleepy air of a small place which has inadvertently given its name to a world-famous product. But what really stands out
One of the endearing features of tasting wines in situ is discovering the range of wines produced. Most areas will have a wine style that they do really well, occasionally outstandingly. But alongside those wines will be competent wines, sometimes from local grape varieties, sometimes from the well-travelled international brigade. The Tuscan white Vermentino would
The good and the great Read More »
Lunch today with colleagues at The Contented Vine in Pimlico. What a great name for a slightly rambling wine bar cum restaurant on three or even four levels. Well executed, good value food and a well constructed wine list – Champagne, French classics, currently a whole page on Australia. We drank a very good Benevento
Fabulous Falanghina Read More »
In the old fashioned world of gentlemen’s clubs and wine merchants, the ageing of wine, claret in particular, was virtually the essence of wine appreciation. How the wine scene has changed but there is still a fascination with how wines age, whether they improve, whether people actually like to drink older bottles. Andover Wine Friends’
Age does not wither? Read More »
After the Capezzana tasting, the riches of Decanter’s Italian day at the Landmark Hotel. This has to be the best one-day introduction to the Italian quality wine scene in the UK and maybe beyond. It’s big – with 86 listed producers – and pretty representative, 13 out of 20 regions present, with Sardinia a surprising
Piemonte 2-3 Toscana: A weekend in Italy part 2 Read More »
As the saying goes, if Mohammed won’t come to the mountain, then the mountain will have to come to Mohammed. The past weekend not only offered not only the ending of the English domestic football season with the showpiece of the FA Cup final, but also a Tuscan wine tasting in Hungerford, Berkshire and Decanter’s
A weekend in Italy: Capezzana Read More »
Rather like the first cuckoo of the spring or the changing of leaf colour in the autumn, the spring tastings of the new wines are a marker of the time of year. Caviste’s Burgundy festival is an opportunity to taste the latest offerings, in this case from the 2008 vintage. Eight growers, nearly all there
Christian Moreau at Caviste Read More »
Giacosa Fratelli is rather different from most of the wineries we visited in our recent week in Piemonte. The winery is much bigger than most of the places we went to, a large, functional building coincidentally right next door to Bruno Giacosa, who, after Gaja, is probably the biggest name in Barbaresco. The business is
Giacosa Fratelli – perfume and austerity Read More »