Writing about the wines of Piemonte, Italy and France
The wines of Spain
This year’s European Wine Bloggers Conference was held in Logroño, Rioja, in late October. The most exciting part of it for me was the chance to visit some great regions which are all new to me. In the course of three days, and thanks largely to the sponsorship of Araex, a group of independent Spanish
Lighting tour of Northern Spain Read More »
This Autumn I had the pleasure of visiting Rioja (and other northern Spanish regions) for the first time around the European Wine Bloggers Conference, Logroño. In addition to the people, the wine and the food it was a photographer’s delight. Return to World homepage
Our regular blind tasting group teetered between concentrated attention on some fine, puzzling wines and outright hilarity. Prizes for the best sayings of the evening must go to Rob who described typical north European Rieslings as having ‘psychopathic flintiness’ and to Stafford who, among the reportable bot mots, claimed that a pint of real ale
Blind tasting – a laugh a minute? Read More »
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
Blind tasting masochism? Read More »
What does a top winemaker do in his, as it were, spare time? After he has supervised the creation and blending of large volumes of good to high quality Cava and mid-range to premium red wines … what does his mind turn to? Producing tiny quantities of a new, experimental wine which changes every year.
Delfi’s playground Read More »
The summer of 2003 in the UK has gone down in the British collective memory as famously hot – to be compared to 1976. While Mediterranean Europe has had other hot summers recently, we have not and so the memory of 2003 has grown rather than receded. Janet and I remember house sitting in that
Caviste’s summer wines have been shown at a number of tastings, most memorably in the presence of a crested eagle – a Bateleur no less – at the Hawk Conservancy. The star of the show had to be woken for his early evening snooze in order to make his celebrity appearance but when he did
Andover Wine Friends’ May tasting was led by Torquil Jack of Carte du Vin … on the basis of his explorations on two wheels of the byways of France and Spain. Torquil and Marion have turned a hobby into an early retirement business, importing wines from small family wineries, mostly unavailable elsewhere in the UK.
The old Spain The current buzz in the wine trade is all about the new Spain. Exciting new producers, a whole range of new areas and a spirit of discovery. At the recent annual trade tasting, Wines from Spain 2013, there were many new producers to try. In addition, the UK’s larger companies were showing
The noble Riesling grape variety is probably German in origin. According to Wine grapes, the name has many German synonyms and may be mentioned as far back as 1435. Certainly the variety is suited to Germany’s cold winters, hot summers and long dry early autumns. With its hard wood and late budding, it is equipped