Writing about the wines of Piemonte, Italy and France
In 1990, Michael Garner and Paul Merritt published their groundbreaking book, Barolo: tar and roses, a study of the wines of Alba. It was the first full-length book in English to deal with the now world-famous wines of Barolo and Barbaresco. It remained the standard work on these wines until Kerin O’Keefe’s Barolo and Barbaresco
Diary 34: ‘Barolo, tar and roses’, 30 years on Read More »
In Cork Dork (Penguin, 2017) Bianca Bosker writes engagingly about her 18-month journey from normal social wine drinker to Certified Sommelier, a first step towards the prestigious Master Sommelier (MS) title. A year and a half may not seem a very long time for this. However, on this account she packed in far more experience,
Cork Dork – fast track to sommelier Read More »
In general wine tasters and especially wine drinkers spend little time thinking about how we generate the taste of wine. Normal drinkers just decided whether they like the wine or not, obsessed wine tasters have one hundred and one other questions but rarely this one. But at least for curious, how human beings can make
Review of Jamie Goode and Sam Harrop MW, Authentic wine: towards natural and sustainable winemaking, University of California Press, 2011 The debate between natural and conventional wine makers is normally something of a shouting match between two sides who really do not want to meet and find a middle way. On the one hand the
Authentic or natural? Read More »
Review of Benjamin Lewin MW, In search of Pinot Noir, Vendange Press, Dover, 2011 I picked up this book with real excitement on two counts. First, as a self confessed Pinotfile (both Noir and Gris, happy with Blanc too) I was thrilled to find a full length, substantial treatment of this great grape variety. Second,
Finding the holy grail? Benjamin Lewin’s In search of Pinot Noir Read More »
Nicholas Belfrage MW, The Finest Wines of Tuscany and Central Italy. A regional and village guide to the best wines and their producers, Fine Wine Editions, Aurum Press, London, 2009 Nicholas Belfrage is a well-known figure on the English wine scene, a wine trader and author of the best general introduction to Italian wine. An
Wine, people, place: Nicholas Belfrage’s and Jon Wyand’s Tuscany Read More »
Most people get by without a developed language about wine. ‘I know what I like’ is a fairly common response, with a laugh or smile, which probably means, ‘let’s face it, people drink for the pleasure, for the taste, for mild (or more) intoxication ’. The further implication is that talking about wine is for
Talking about wine Read More »