The wines of Spain
As stated many times on this blog, exposing yourself to trial by blind tasting is a mug’s game. My worst moment was failing to identify the grape variety of an Alsace Grand Cru Gewurztraminer. After I knew what it was its typical rose water and lychees aromas were as obvious as it gets. And yes
Blind tasting improbability index 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
Last Saturday’s Decanter Spain tasting in London featured good wines mainly from well-known regions – Rioja, Priorat, and, perhaps most interestingly, whites from Rueda. By contrast, Andover Wine Friends’ monthly tasting took us on a vinous tour of Spain. Nine wines from nine different quality areas showed both what some local grapes can do and
Off the beaten track Spain Read More »
In the United Kingdom, Rioja lives a sort of double life as supermarket bargain wine and, much less conspicuously, as a top quality wine in its own right. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a supermarket bargain – inexpensive bottles, often marketed with highly improbably ‘half price’ slogans, but nonetheless producing very drinkable wines. The
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
All sorts of things motivate wine drinkers – quality, rarity, price and, let’s be straightforward about it, palatable alcohol. If you can combine at least three of these, you are on to a winner. I haven’t done a proper search on the best relationship of quality to price for the wines I have tasted or
Best value bottle of the year? Read More »