Writing about the wines of Piemonte, Italy and France
The wines of Côte d’Or, Burgundy
My favourite wines – for a special occasion, celebrating the end of MW exams
My favourite wines Read More »
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 »
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 »
When do you drink those special bottles? Once you have built up a bit of a wine collection, the issue becomes when do you drink those special bottles? You may only have one of each. Or a bottle you have stored may have become become ridiculously expensive in the meantime. Or a bottle represents a
We depend on wine critics to be level-headed and to cut across the hype of merchants who have a natural and understandable motive to be enthusiastic about new vintage releases. But if you love red Burgundy there is no reason not to believe the hype which accompanies the release of 2015 wines. To be straightforward
2015 Burgundy excitement! Read More »
Bring a Special Bottle Christmas 2016 celebration Keen wine tasters in North West Hampshire meet in a range of formats – Andover Wine Friends, BBC (‘bring a bottle club’), TWITS (don’t ask), TWITS Diploma group and, of course, informally. To these can now be added BSBC, bring a special bottle club. This pays homage to
Bring a special bottle, 2016 Read More »
Some wines are so outstanding that they demand a piece to be written about them … even when one is supposed to be revising for ridiculously demanding exams in a week’s time. Corton-Renardes, Grand Cru, Domaine Michel Voarick, Burgundy, 2005 was the only wine served blind at the end of a tasting of the most important
The antidote to revision: Corton 2005 Read More »
Wine writers and drinkers have been exercised by what is referred to as premature oxidation in white Burgundy since the 1996 vintage. This is a slightly vague condition in which high quality wines from top village, Premier Cru and Grand Cru sites fail to live up to their promise, being either obviously oxidised or just
How does white Burgundy age? Read More »
One of the highlights of any wine tour is to stand at the edge of a great vineyard – preferably on a lovely sunny day – and then taste the wines. Here are the pictures taken as the light faded on a chilly but sunny early spring day in March 2014: The Bichot part of
Thanks to the generosity of Maison Albert Bichot, Beaune, a group of wine students have the chance to taste several flights of white Burgundy. What is special about the range of wine is that the producer is the same and within the two main flights the wines are from the same vintages. So we have
Albert Bichot’s white Burgundy Read More »