Writing about the wines of Piemonte, Italy and France
The wines of Beaujolais
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
Andover Wine Friends unusually had a fine wine supper in August … and also, atypically, indulged in a bit of blind tasting masochism. Speaking for myself I normally enjoy the considerable challenge of blind tasting, even though it is a very artificial exercise. This is not just for the rare moments of triumph when you
February’s Bring a Bottle Club was off into unchartered territories … again. It was, however, the last time when we had some clues. The custom has been for each person to bring their bottle or bottles suitably shrouded but for all to know who has contributed each wine. This inevitably leads to inferences being made
One way of dealing with the overwhelming complexity of the world of wine is to decide that there certain wines/grapes/styles that you don’t like. A few popular favourites would be a) German wine (sweet and flavourless) b) English wine (how could you? see previous post) c) over-oaked Chardonnay (agreed). My number one choice would be
The June meeting of the Overton-based blind tasting group was the usual mix of fine bottles, some disappointments and perhaps the least good wine we have ever had (is that sufficiently polite?). And it was a large tasting – 17 bottles. While it is difficult to concentrate for that long (even for those of us
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
Blind tasting is supposed to be such a serious business but sometimes … and good company and alcohol may have something to do with it … it dissolves into hilarity and just a great evening together. The tone of the this evening where people brought one or two wines to taste blind was set by
Many trade tastings are rather orderly affairs with a bit of elbow room, an atmosphere in which you can talk to producers or suppliers and often rather good catering thrown in. Some are in very fine settings with a lot of attention being paid to the whole environment. After all – let’s be straightforward about
Andover Wine Friend’s summer party was held in the garden of our house on a warm July evening. This being England we were lucky – if it was 24 hours later it probably would have been raining. As it was it was a perfect evening, warm without being oppressive. And, as I forgot to take