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Sustainability focus: Naked Wines
As we are all aware, sustainability is one issue that will simply not go away. The first things that come to mind when you think sustainable range from reusing pots, recycling plastic and cutting down on car journeys, but the wine world actually plays quite a role itself. Not just in leading the way in logistics and distribution sustainability, but also farming techniques helping reduce harmful chemicals, wastewater and even using drones. Check out my article on sustainability in Bordeaux for…
Jim Barry – An Aussie icon
When you hear about Australian wines there are a few names that should come to mind: Penfolds, Yellow Tail, Wolf Blass, Peter Lehmann and Jim Barry. Jim Barry helped shape the world-famous Clare Valley as a Riesling powerhouse and one of Australia’s greatest wine regions. He was in fact the first qualified winemaker to work in the entire region, taking a job as winemaker and chemist at Clarevale Cooperative soon after graduating in 1946. It wasn’t until 1959 that Jim and his wife bought their…
Apothic – Wines with history
As a Classicist and wine aficionado, this brand appeals for two reasons. Firstly, the Classicist in me likes the name for its Greek origin (Everywhere I saw seems to think it's Latin, which isn't wrong, but go back further). "Apothece", meaning warehouse, harks to the origin and rustic nature of winemaking. Picture barrels upon barrels in large, dark storehouses where early winemakers began tinkering with blends and maturation. It’s also linked to apothecaries, again evoking this image of…
Weddings & Wine: The Key Events
These days, much like everything, weddings have a habit of racking up a nasty bill. Many will be wondering how you can keep wedding costs down, but, the simple truth is that it can be tricky, particularly where food and drink are concerned. I’ve spent a bit of time discussing and leading wine tastings during my days at Majestic Wine so have a good idea of how to manage wine choices, food pairings and head count to bottle ratios on a budget (half a bottle per person is about right). Not to…
Riding around the Hunter Valley
Keen Aussie wine drinkers might know a thing or two about (*Australian outback accent*) “The Hunter”. By which I of course mean the Hunter Valley! Just over a year ago to date I was out in Sydney, and being a wine man if I do say so myself, felt it was the ideal opportunity to go and visit one of Australia’s most renowned regions. It helped it was also the closest region of any note. The Hunter lies just North of Sydney and is Australia’s oldest wine region. It accounts for something like only…
Grapes and libations: Bacchus
Bacchus is perhaps one of the best named grapes out there. An homage to the Greek god of wine and, for some I'm sure, the Bacchanal excess that goes with it! Although perhaps not to the same extent as some of the more lurid tales of the Greeks. Bacchus is in fact a feat of human engineering, a crossing between Muller-Thurgau and a Silvaner-Riesling crossing. These are all German wine mainstays in the grape world and explains why Bacchus has proved so effective in the UK. Our climate is not…
Greasy Fingers - The Ultimate Food pairing
When you hear someone talk knowingly about wine, the declaration of what fine food to pair it with is never far from their lips. Enter Greasy Fingers, the brand designed to remove the pomp of wine and food matching and admit that pairing wine with burgers, pizza or any kind of takeaway is what you actually want. Sometimes something greasy is hard to resist, and you should treat yourself to a wine that deserves it too. It is true that an aged Rioja or Montrachet probably wouldn’t pair so well…
Sustainability focus: Bordeaux
This blog might well be for the real enthusiasts as it is based off my research essay I submitted for my Diploma qualification recently. So, all I have to say is, good luck! But, in all truth, this topic is very prevalent in the wine world and gives a real insight into changing vineyard and winemaking practices. Environmental impacts are fast becoming a key concern for consumer and producer alike as the effects of climate change have increased over the past few decades, if you couldn’t tell (how…
Balfour – An English Wine Leader
Balfour plantings began in 2002 on the Hush Heath Estate and within a few years had picked up their first award for the 2004 Vintage Balfour Brut Rosé. This was produced in just 10,000 bottles but had given Balfour all the prestige it needed to become what it is today. Not only did it strike gold at the International Wine Challenge, but it was also the first English Sparkling to be served on British Airways First Class and the only English Wine at the London Olympics 2012. As you can see it’s…
World Champagne Day 2023
World Champagne Day is celebrated yearly on the 4th Friday in October, and conveniently a Friday too, where you ought to pop a cork in celebration of Champagne and all the good memories that come with it. Champagne is the absolute staple of celebrations and deserving of its very own day to commemorate the skill, passion and joyous occasion that these winemakers bring us. Across the industry there is a range of Champagne at some eye-bogglingly low prices and equally bogglingly high. They are…
Barbados – The birthplace of Rum: Tour of St Nicholas Abbey
As we draw towards Winter, you may find yourself looking for comforting spirits to put some fire in you and keep the frost at bay. Why not think of the Caribbean as you do it too, to maintain that mental warming image. It was around this time last October that this very thought occurred to me as I sat on a Barbadian beach dreading the return to the UK. Time for a rum tour to get stocks for the chilly homecoming! Now, Barbados is spoilt for choice on rum tours with Mount Gay being the most…
Trivento – The success of Argentinian Winemaking
Trivento is a wine you have probably heard of, after all, it’s the UK’s leading Argentinian wine brand on the market. And that is saying something since Malbec from Argentina is huge at the moment and has been for some time. The wine comes from the famous Mendoza region which lies at the base of the Andes range in the valley of the river Mendoza. Vineyards here can exceed 1,500 metres! The center of Mendoza is known as the ‘Primera Zona’ as it has the longest history of quality wine in…
What's the fuss about Jam Shed wines?
Jam shed wines hit the wine scene in 2017 and have since become the 7th largest Australian wine brand in the UK and are amassing popularity over the World too. That is huge. Australian wine producers have risen in the ranks in recent years, consistently being the most bought on the market, and it is easy to see why Jam Shed are amongst the best. Jam Shed gives away its inspiration very quickly. Quite simply, the founders came across a jam shed on a vineyard which produced both delicious jam and…
Join the club - Tidbits of Wine52
Rather than focussing on a specific case, I thought I’d mention some favourites from cases that Wine52 have offered over the last few months. From classic regions such as the Rhone to Portugal’s Alentejo and Hungary’s Balaton, the cases have been exciting and adventurous. Hailing from Chile’s Rapel Valley, home to the Cachapoal and Colchagua rivers, it’s a region with many meso-climates due to the nature of the hills and mountains. I’d say this Pinot Grigio displays evidence of coming from the…
The best of the Rhone? - Guigal
Guigal was established shortly after the Second World War by Étienne Guigal who started with another famous Rhone name, Vidal Fleury. As testament to his success, Guigal now in fact owns Vidal Fleury too. The Guigal name really came to the fore when wine critic, Robert Parker led the charge in heaping praise upon their Côte-Rôtie wines. Guigal have since purchased Château d'Ampuis in the 90s, which is now their headquarters and fittingly, the home where Étienne Guigal’s wife used to work as a…
The WinesDirect Awards 2023
See the condensed results here The annual Winesdirect awards are in, giving you the inside scoop of our best rated supermarkets, merchants, wines and spirits. Competition was high this year but we did have some clear winners. The part we are most proud of is that our awards are voted for only by you, the consumers, giving our results maximum transparency. Waitrose rose to the top and it was perhaps unsurprising. After all it is the supermarket best known for quality whether it comes to wine or…
Porta 6: the wine that broke the internet
Depends who you are, but perhaps the ridiculously high reviews all over the place might be an answer. They have 6 wines to their name, with a recently released sparkling to add a celebratory option to the range. Porta 6 is a regional Lisboa wine, made of a blend of indigenous grapes (Aragonês, Castelão and Touriga Nacional) from all over the Lisboa region. This freedom to pick from different plots means they can be more precise with their grape choice and pick the best grapes for the style…
What makes Peyrassol Rose, Provence?
La Commanderie de Peyrassol is, for many, a wine estate of extremely strong renown and history. It was founded in Provence, in the early 13th Century by the Knights Templar whose seal is emblazoned upon the bottle tops to this day as is the Templar cross all over the estate. Parchment dated to 1256 even reports on the sale of wine from the Chateau, although it would not have been anything like the Rose of today. However, it wasn’t until the 1800s when wine began to overtake the estate’s other…
Is Riesling the greatest white grape?
18/09/2023 If you search retail websites for the most popular grapes, invariably Riesling doesn't feature, and often a search for most popular country doesn't feature Germany, the home of Riesling. You have to search for white wines, then it comes up, as everywhere stocks some Riesling wines. But it is true that almost every other grape is more popular: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio coming top of the popularity list. Even grapes unheard of a few years ago, like Picpoule, or…
Tasting Tour of Canadian Wine
Having just returned from holiday exploring the National Parks of British Columbia, Alberta and Vancouver Island, Canadian wine is firmly on my mind. Unfortunately, wild fires surrounding a lot of wine country in Okanagan put paid to the planned wine tours, but it didn’t stop me having the chance to try it pretty much every day. The majority of production comes from Okanagan, in the West, and Niagara Peninsula, in the East. Most of the wine I tried was local to where I was staying, so pretty…
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