Cristal Vinothèque: the quest for eternal youth
The tasting of the first two vintages, 1995 and 1996, of Roederer's ultrarare Cristal Vinothèque When Louis Roederer released the first...
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Nov 1, 2018
A dazzling Penfolds Grange and much more: tasting the 2018 Collection
The launch of Penfolds’ 2014 Grange last month marked the release of the 64th consecutive vintage. I haven't tasted the first, the...
Oct 5, 2018
Château Lafon-Rochet 2006-2016: coming full circle
Ten years after returning to Saint-Estèphe to take the helm at the family's fourth-growth estate, Basile Tesseron showed the results at a...
Aug 22, 2018
Inspiring island wines: reds from Sicily and Sardinia
Update, September 4, 2018: the Etna Rosso and Barbazzale are now out of stock, so the mixed case is no longer available, but the rest of...
Aug 16, 2018
Peerless Provence: the rosés of Sacha Lichine at D'Esclans
As I said in my Around the world in rosé blog, I'm a great admirer of the wines from Sacha Lichine's d'Esclans estate in Côtes de...
Aug 15, 2018
Around the world in rosé: 16 rosés from four continents in every shade and shape
Alphonse Mellot Le Paradis Sancerre Rosé 2017, France Ravishing Pinot Noir rosé from one of Sancerre's great wine families. Long, slow...
Jul 26, 2018
Discovering a little-known gem: Okanagan Valley, the world's northernmost wine region
My first visit to Canada at the beginning of June took me to the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, the world’s northernmost wine...
Jul 6, 2018
How to become a winemaker at a top Champagne house at the age of 27
Caroline Fiot in the garden of Champagne Ruinart, where she is a winemaker Oddly, until last week I had never visited Ruinart in Reims....
May 30, 2018
The white wine that thinks it's a red: Santorini Assyrtiko
No one knows quite how many indigenous grape varieties Greece has, because so many take different names in different regions and have...
May 29, 2018
From wine book editor to Winemaker of the Year – 5-minute Q&A with Emma Rice
I first met Emma Rice when she was the editor of the second edition of my book Discovering Wine. She went on to become one of the UK's...
Apr 20, 2018
If It's Red, Chill It!
Before you do anything else this evening, put your red wine in the fridge. Yes, the weather is unseasonably hot in the UK, but I'd be...
Apr 11, 2018
Txakoli – a must-try wine (even if you don't want to pronounce it)
The first bodega I visited on a revelatory, perception-challenging first trip to the Spanish Basque country’s Txakoli regions last autumn...
Apr 4, 2018
White Beauty: a Tuscan debut
Wine exam question: Explain what is meant by white Sangiovese. When I first heard about a Sangiovese bianco, I didn’t know if we were...
Mar 23, 2018
12 of the best from Aldi
Aldi's wines are cheap, as you would expect, but they're bought with care. These are a dozen that stood out at a recent press tasting....
Mar 20, 2018
Legal at last: a story of illicit gin
If you happen to be hanging around outside Harrods or Fortnum & Mason and spot a Leakbusters yellow and orange van, no need to fear the...
Mar 6, 2018
Expanding wine drinkers' horizons: The Daily Drinker
As it was so hard choosing between the five Daily Drinker wines for my Wine of the Week, I'm writing up the other four here (and looking...
Feb 12, 2018
Vermú, Vermut, Vermouth
Paso-Vermú, a new hand-crafted Spanish Vermouth made by an English couple in Somontano. The striking artwork is by Matt Sewell Strictly...
Feb 6, 2018
Charles Heidsieck Blanc des Millénaires 2004: a long-awaited new vintage
No one could accuse Champagne Charles Heidsieck of rushing things or releasing vintages too frequently, not so far anyway. The new...
Jan 29, 2018
Sauvignon catch-up
My Festive White Wine Guide last month was light on Sauvignon Blanc, so I’m putting that right with 8 recommendations here, in a variety...
Jan 15, 2018
The changing face of Txakoli
Hot-foot from a trip to Basque Spain at the end of October, I postponed the idea of a blog enthusing about Txakoli (aka Chacolí) on the...
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