Writing about the wines of Piemonte, Italy and France
Why the Judgment of Overton? Two of our tasting group decided to collect the wines to re-run the so-called Judgement of Paris. In short, this blind tasting in 1976 changed the world of wine. It demonstrated that Californian wines can be of the same quality level as the top wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy. Our
The Judgement of Overton, 2021 Read More »
My favourite wines – for a special occasion, celebrating the end of MW exams
My favourite wines Read More »
Then there is the elongated perfume-jar bottle from Domaine des Fournelles which uses a ton of glass. Finally, in the rosé section, the rather elegant contemporary rosé look adopted by Vignerons Des Pierres Dorées: Let’s move on to more conventional Beaujolais and Beaujolais-Villages. As already said, there are lots of traditional bottles and labels, but
Beaujolais gets stylish Read More »
I have only recently come to realise how much I love Syrah as a wine. It has now joined my personal pantheon of Nebbiolo, Pinot Noir, Sangiovese (and quite a few other tannic Italian varieties) and the very best examples of Chardonnay, roughly in that order. These are the varieties I want to cellar
Alex Maltman, Vineyards, Rocks, and Soils. the wine lover’s guide to geology, Oxford, 2018. My question is: can this book begin to clear up the mineral muddle that wine commentators have got into? In John Szabo MS’ otherwise excellent book, Volcanic Wines (2016), there is a particularly alarming example of poor logic. It comes when
Lovers of red Burgundy will be all too familiar with wines which fail to live up to expectation. Too many wines – especially in the past – were pale, feeble or lack the heady perfume that Pinot Noir can deliver in the Côte d’Or. But when they do deliver, they are – without qualification –
Red Burgundy outperforms expectation … Read More »
In November 2007 Janet and I set up Andover Wine Friends with our very first public tasting at The Lights, Andover. Five years on we had a happy party at which members all brought a bottle to share. For our tenth, we held a dinner for 26 in our house and a tasting on the
Andover Wine Friends 10th anniversary tasting and dinner Read More »
The two stars of last night’s Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé tasting: Dagueneau 2007 and Cotat 2004: opulent and taut respectively.
Monday’s nights can be special nights. This last Monday Janet and I joined eight others in a ‘Michelin madness’ dinner at which we all provided the wines while enjoying the very good cooking – and arresting artwork – at La Trompette in Chiswick. Five fine courses, four groups of wines – Champagne, whites, reds and
Five courses, four groups of wines at La Trompette Read More »
The Josmeyer name is well-loved and enjoys huge respect among wine lovers – for good reasons. Founded in 1854 by Aloyse Meyer as an extension of the family restaurant business, the company became a very important négociant. It was renamed Josemeyer to honour the second generation, Joseph Meyer, in 1963, by which time the name
Josmeyer – star of Alsace Read More »