Croatia and its wines seem to be on my radar lately. It all started late last year right before I went to Argentina. I was given a sample of two to try and although I wasn’t able to try them until 3 months later, I thought, hmmm, interesting and not bad at all. Forward to a week and a half ago and I’m visiting a friend...
read moreSO, there I was, first day of Bordeaux En Primeur 2010. 9:30am,we set out, my palate was fresh and it was a beautiful sunny early Spring day. First on the list, Pomerol, where we were heading to one of the grand cru classe tastings. I couldn’t wait to finally experience what it would be like to taste these great wines when...
read moreI know what you’re thinking. You went all the way to Bordeaux for en primeur and you ended up drinking Thai wine?? How did that happen? Believe me, I didn’t even know that any Thai wine was going to be available when I trundled up to Chateau Angelus, a Premier Grand Cru Classe in St.Emilion for a tasting of their en...
read moreBeer and pizza. That was about the extent of my beer and food matching horizons. That is until I attended a “Girls Night” beer and food matching dinner put on by Rupert Ponsonby, of R&R Teamwork, at the White Horse in Parsons Green. The aim of the evening was to show that beer was more then just lager and could be...
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It’s a funny thing but now I’ve started to smell my food before I eat it. Granted, I don’t smell all my food but anytime I encounter a new dish or perhaps a new ingredient, I take a second before putting it into my mouth to think about it. I’ll take a deep whiff of it and try and commit it to memory. It...
read moreIt’s not too late to enter Berry Bros. & Rudd’s latest competition to win a trip to Piedmont, Italy with their resident wine buyer, nebbiolo expert, and 8th generation Berry, David Berry Green. Berry Bros. & Rudd is one of the oldest wine merchants in the world and is offering one lucky person and a companion...
read moreThe wines of Rioja are very well known in the UK. Largely known for being rich, heavily oaked wines, the regions has recently been infused with new blood and these young winemakers are now making more modern and fresh wines. Benjamin Romeo is one of those forward looking winemakers and his assistant winemaker, Allende...
read moreIs there anything nicer then a magnum of champagne? How about a couple of vintage bottles of champagne in jeroboam? I ran into my friend, Neil Phillips, not long ago at the Harper’s Champagne summit held at the Soho Hotel in Central London recently and he twisted my arm into trying the Perrier-Jouët Cuvée Belle Epoque...
read moreSpring is in the air! London is enjoying some particularly fine weather today. In the spirit of these sunny days, I’m posting a short interview I did with Dominique Demarville, one of the two cellar masters of Veuve Clicquot about the blend that goes into their Yellow Label champagne. Warm spring days like today are just made...
read moreI really didn’t think I was going to make the tasting and dinner at Gauthier Soho after my flight was delayed. I had been in Bordeaux all day at Millesima’s Panorama tasting of the 2009 vintage and my 6:20 flight back to London had been delayed by an hour. Would I make it back in time to get through immigration, catch...
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