Fortified wines are a seriously undervalued category of quality wines. Somewhere we have bought the line that to be taken seriously wines must be dry (many fortifieds are also sweet) while proper concerns about alcohol consumption put a question mark against wines that can be around 20% in alcoholic strength. Vintage Port is the exception,
Wines of the extremes 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 »
Quality wine develops over time. If a wine has sufficient fruit, acidity, structure and tannins, it can develop over the years in the bottle, in exceptional cases over decades. This is well known in relation to the classic wine regions. But what about up and coming ones – in this case, Roussillon? Most wines in
Ageing gracefully in Roussillon Read More »
The BBC (‘Bring a bottle club’) had a change of format for its late September meeting. Normally the wines are tasted blind but, following our experience with Champagne, where there was not enough variety in the styles brought, we allocated or bid for Sherry styles. And after that, it seemed a bit pointless to try
Andover Wine Friends’ September tasting featured a comparison between two very different French wine regions: Sancerre very much in the middle of this large country in the aptly named ‘Central Vineyards’ and Roussillon, 600 kilometres further south and on Spain’s Mediterranean border. The contrasts between the two regions are marked: Sancerre Roussillon historic vineyard with
Sancerre meets Roussillon Read More »
We have been enjoying a number of parties to launch our new garden/tasting room at home. It replaces a plastic conservatory and is proving a real joy – opening up the entire ground floor of the house, giving lovely views into the garden and creating lots of space. And of course, we have an excuse
Twins and triplets Read More »
Mystery and suspense currently surround the village of Bugarach. Situated 75 kilometres from the Mediterranean and 110 from the Spanish border, it lies at 460m above sea level but is completely overshadowed by the Pic de Bugarach, a mountain in the foothills of the Pyrenees, which rises to 1230m. The first mystery is the weather
Mysterious Bugarach Read More »
Blind tasting line-up – with a few interlopers (shop samples) Ah, the monthly challenge of blind tasting … can you tell your Chardonnay from your Chenin, your Syrah from your Sangiovese? This month there were a couple of easy numbers, some real surprises and some that were completely off the wall. It all makes for
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
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 »