#wine 27/31

Oct 7, 2016

The Next Big Thing...

This is the sort of piece I normally write at the close of the year, but I have more than enough material and deserving wines to mention...

Oct 6, 2016

WINE OF THE WEEK: Bibbiano di Fattoria Chianti Classico 2014, Tuscany, Italy

£9.99, Co-op It speaks volumes both about the quality of this wine and the quality of the producers from which the Co-op sources its...

Sep 22, 2016

WINE OF THE WEEK: Calmel & Joseph Terrasses du Larzac 2014, Languedoc, France

£13.75, Grape & Grind; £13.99, New Forest Wines £14.79, Martinez Wines A southern French red that exudes contemporary polish but not at...

Sep 15, 2016

WINE OF THE WEEK: Domaine Lombard Brézème Blanc 2015, Côtes du Rhône, France

£18.95, Yapp Brothers Brézème. Excuse me? If you haven’t heard of this tiny French wine region you won’t be alone. If you have heard of...

Sep 13, 2016

The World's Worst Wine

It goes without saying that I never review wines I haven't tasted. I'm making an exception now for Tiger Bone Wine, Chinese rice wine...

Sep 8, 2016

WINE OF THE WEEK: Beronia Rioja Reserva 2011, Spain

£9.99, Waitrose until 20 September (then £13.49); £9.99 for 6 bottles, Majestic; £14, Tesco and Ocado The winemaker of this multi...

Sep 1, 2016

WINE OF THE WEEK: Léon Beyer Sylvaner 2014, Alsace, France

£8.50, The Wine Society There are much showier Alsace wines, not least Gewurztraminer, but for an aperitif or a match for salad,...

Aug 30, 2016

Drinking history

45 years old and still in perfect health Drinking history: there are times when only a well-worn phrase will do. I’ve just had one of...

Aug 25, 2016

WINE OF THE WEEK: Te Mata Gamay Noir 2015, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand

£18.75, Harvey Nichols; £14.75, Hawkshead Wines There are a lot of red wines I don’t want to go near in a heat-wave but this one is a...

Aug 18, 2016

WINE OF THE WEEK: Lyme Bay Shoreline 2014, Devon, England

£12.85, lymebayenglishwines.co.uk; £12.99, waitrosecellar.com England’s sparkling wines crowd the headlines, but the best still wines...

Aug 11, 2016

WINE OF THE WEEK: Maquina & Tabla Laderas de Leonila 2013, Bierzo, Spain

£14.50, or £12.95 in any 12 bottles, Lea & Sandeman I don’t begrudge Rioja any of its success, but I wish it didn’t overshadow the...

Aug 9, 2016

Playing with Fire: Ekstedt restaurant in Stockholm

Cooking over fire at Ekstedt (clockwise from top left): wood-fired oven with loaves of bread waiting at the side to go in, smoke box and...

Aug 4, 2016

WINE OF THE WEEK: Ad Mare Bandol Rosé 2015, Bandol, France

£13 until 9 August, then back to £15, Sainsbury's This is one of those ultra-pale rosés that looks almost like white wine but is anything...

Aug 2, 2016

Basque dreams: Ametsa with Arzak Instruction

For some reason 2016 is turning out to be a great year for eating. I seem to have had more, more than usually exciting restaurant meals...

Jul 28, 2016

WINE OF THE WEEK: Wakefield Estate Shiraz 2014, Clare Valley, Australia

£11.99, or £8.99 in any 6-bottle mix, Majestic Most red wine is drunk too warm, but people are reluctant to put it in the fridge for the...

Jul 27, 2016

Stock up while you still can at The Wine Society's shop in Montreuil

I joined The Wine Society as a student. Without doubt it was the wisest expenditure of my three undergraduate years (OK, the only wise...

Jul 21, 2016

WINE OF THE WEEK: Amalaya Blanco de Corte Torrontés Riesling 2015, Valle Calchaquí, Argentina

£9.50, Marks & Spencer Torrontés is to white wines in Argentina what Malbec is to reds: the signature grape variety, but the similarity...

Jul 14, 2016

WINE OF THE WEEK: Maison Roche de Bellene Bourgogne Pinot Noir Vieilles Vignes 2014, France

£16, Oddbins There are lots of misconceptions about red burgundy, two of the most glaring being that it’s a full-bodied wine and always...

Jul 7, 2016

WINE OF THE WEEK: Zalze Reserve Chenin Blanc 2015, Coastal Region, South Africa

£7, Sainsbury's (special offer price) This Cape white, from the excellent 2015 vintage, is always one of my favourite wines at...

Jul 2, 2016

Top, Top Tuscans: on the Masseto Merlot trail

Ornellaia and Masseto are close siblings but very different wines, as I discovered on a recent visit All planted to Merlot – the Masseto...