Wine gifts for Christmas are a safe bet whether the recipient is a wine fanatic or merely a regular consumer because, for reasons which are beyond me, wine is seen as a bit of a luxury and not an everyday necessity so people don’t often buy wine accessories for themselves. Please note that I don’t […]
Birmingham’s wine-scene is at last well and truly established. For years there was only a handful of people seriously selling, buying, tasting and presenting wine. For a time it seemed that there was actually only Connolly’s and me: them selling, me presenting. Both Chris Connolly and I have been in the business all our working lives, […]
We regularly recommend Nickolls & Perks as great merchants when we host tastings and it’s about time we did so again to BYWine readers. Here’s why: The range is large and eclectic. The prices are keen, and even sharper when they have offers on. They deliver and they are reliable. They are a well-established, trust-worthy family firm. […]
There can be no better time to visit Champagne than mid-October when the vineyards are resplendent in their Autumn colours and the the vignerons are relaxed and content having brought in a good vintage, in this case 2014. Consequently, an invitation to spend 3 days there in the company of other European Champagne Ambassadors was […]
The 2012 Crus Bourgeois were released last month and Richard and Laura spent a gruelling morning in her case, afternoon in his, tasting through those available in London at the annual tasting – a rather palate-bashing, teeth-shattering 188 of them. Following a little reminder as to exactly what Cru Bourgeois is and how the 2012s […]
If you don’t like the wine, change the music. Music doesn’t just dish out the tingle factor, evoke memories, reduce us to tears and raise our spirits it also affects how we perceive what we taste. According to Professor Barry Smith of University of London, tasting generally, and wine tasting in particular, is not a […]
I am not alone. 11% of the wine we drink in this country is rosé. We spend around £3.3m on it. So quite a few of us must be pretty keen. Personally, I love rosé – a phrase you won’t find many wine professionals shouting from the roof tops – but with caveats. It shouldn’t […]
Just in case you thought there was nothing more to New Zealand wine than Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, and to be honest you might be forgiven for being thus misinformed, here’s a few impressive white Marlborough alternatives which Waitrose will stocking in the coming months. Hunky Dory The Tangle 2013 £11.99 A tri0 of 45% Pinot Gris, […]
“Georgia is to winemakers what the Amazon is to botanists” – the words of American winemaker Jeff Vejr, a specialist in qvevri wines and speaker at the recent International Wine Tourism Conference in Tbilisi. Certainly, 8,000 years of winemaking history and 523 indigenous grape varieties confer on Georgia a position of some eminence in the […]
Sometimes, rarely, it pays not to have a diary bursting at the seams with a whole load of uncancellable tastings, classes, courses or deadlines. It means that when an email pings into your inbox suggesting a fleeting visit to Ribera del Duero the following week you are at liberty to say yes. I thought I […]