#tasting

Apr 30

Poggio di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino 2010–2019 – Three Vintages of the Century and Counting

To celebrate the international release of the Poggio di Sotto’s 2019 Brunello, winemaker Leonardo Berti hosted a vertical tasting in London

Mar 5

Standing Taller Than Ever: the Old-Vine Wines of Torbreck in the Barossa

The journey through Torbreck old-vine Barossa wines with chief winemaker Ian Hongell at Noizé restaurant in London in February 2024...

Aug 22, 2023

Preview: the Soon-to-be-Released Vin de Constance 2020

The 2020 Vin de Constance in its trademarked, distinctive asymmetrical 500ml bottle that resembles the early hand-blown Constantia...

Jan 12, 2023

Vérité and Cardinale: Towering California Wines from Mountains and Micro-Crus

Winemaker Pierre Seillan, who created Vérité for Jess Jackson and Barbara Banke in 1998, and his daughter Hélène who is now assistant...

Sep 22, 2022

The Legendary Vin de Constance – a Wine Worth Ageing

The strikingly different colours of the 10 vintages of Klein Constantia Vin de Constance spanning the years 1987 to 2015. The oldest...

Aug 3, 2022

Penfolds French-ish Launches, the New Grange, the Fabled Bin 60A and More

When Penfolds launches its 2022 collection tomorrow, Thursday 4 August, it will include two French, or French-ish, still wines for the...

Jun 30, 2021

Acidity – Something to be Celebrated Not Feared: the launch of Luce 2018

Two things came together for Frescobaldi's Luce in 2018, a model vintage without any of the extremes of the previous year and the opening...

Jun 14, 2021

The Beauty of Burgundy Vintages ending in '9': Famille Carabello-Baum 2019s

Cleverly branded corks – Château de Pommard is worked organically and biodynamically, as are many of the wines under the Famille...

Nov 24, 2020

A Taste of Tuscany: First of the 2020 Extra Virgin Olive Oils

Normally the Conti Contini Bonacossi family get through about 70 litres of their own organic extra virgin olive oil a year, but this year...

Oct 28, 2020

Sipping Siepi with the Best of 'Em

Gnocchi with girolles, chanterelles and black truffle paired with the 2011 vintage of Castello di Fonterutoli's super-Tuscan Siepi, at a...

Sep 16, 2020

A Sneak Preview of the 2017 Vintage of One of the World's Great Sweet Wines

Excelling again: the just released 2017 vintage of Vin de Constance, still in the traditional asymmetrical 50cl bottle, but now with a...

Jul 14, 2020

A Story of Redemption: Castello Banfi in Montalcino

The imposing medieval Castello Poggio alle Mura with just below (on the right of the picture) part of the luxury Castello Banfi Il Borgo...

Jul 2, 2020

Wine from the Edge: New Zealand and Oregon Pinot Noir

Ready for the off – sample bottles of New Zealand and Oregon Pinot Noir lined up in order for the tasting This tasting, which replaced...

Apr 7, 2020

The New Order at Luce: New Wine, Winemaker and Winery and a Retrospective Tasting

Looking across the Luce vineyards to Frescobaldi's Tenuta di Castelgiocondo in southwest Montalcino in the November sunshine The text of...

Aug 13, 2019

A Rioja legend in its own lifetime: Roda's 30th anniversary tasting

Clams and Galician blond breed beef (Rubia gallega) at Asador Etxebarri, where everything is grilled over wood fires, using different...

Mar 1, 2019

4 top Italian reds – from Tuscany, Trentino and Lombardy

Tasting notes on another four impressive Italian recent releases, following on from my Caiarossa blog The four wines – San Leonardo from...

Feb 15, 2019

Caiarossa – fusing complexity with approachability in Tuscany

The past six months have been particularly rich in tastings of top Tuscan wines. Two of them, Luce and Siepi, I’ve written about in...

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...

Jan 12, 2018

La Conseillante: freshness, clarity and grace 1982–2011

The text of this article originally appeared in The World of Fine Wine, issue 53 A seated tasting of nine vintages of La Conseillante...