In the last fortnight, I have been fortunate enough to attend 3 different sparkling wine tastings. On the plus side, yes, I do have a rather tasty job. On the minus side, as sparkling wines make such perfect appetisers, I seem to have been permanently hungry. I have already reported on the English sparkling wines […]
I’m posting these tasting notes of a Château Musar vertical I was lucky enough to be part of four years ago because of some twitter chat with some terribly geeky wine people. I suspect we were all wearing our anoraks with pride. For those unfamiliar with Château Musar, it is the most famous wine of […]
There was a time not so long ago when a tasting of 80 English sparkling wines would have been both impossible and something of an ordeal. Not anymore. Their success means that the number of producers of English Sparkling Wine has increased dramatically and, amazingly, quality has improved year on year too. So, when I […]
Yealands Estate in Marlborough, New Zealand is a recent producer of wine. Grapes they’ve been doing for years but would sell them to other people to make the wine. That was up until 2008 when they made their very first vintage in their brand new, and first of its kind, CarboNZeroCERT™ winery. For anyone who […]
It’s not every day you taste 100% Cabernet Franc. It’s not every day you taste 100% Cabernet Franc from three different soil types. Nor is it every day you do exactly the same with Merlot and with the wines coming from the Premier Grand Cru Classé A St Emilion, Château Cheval Blanc. It is in […]
When was the last time you bought a bottle of Sherry? Last Christmas? Christmas 1983? Never? Well, let me tell you, Sherry is back, buzzing and all the rage. It is hip and trendy and you do not need to be over 70 or a member of the WI to feel it is ok to […]
As a member of a book club which would not demean itself, publicly at least, to read and discuss the current bestsellers, we would, even so, not consider ourselves to be particularly intellectual. We discuss our books over a glass or two of bubbly for a considerably shorter amount of time than we do our […]