A few months back, I visited Cafe Luc to try their wines on tap. I like the idea of wine on tap, especially if it’s house wine as let’s face it, if you’re ordering house wine, you’re not that fussed. That said, however, it shouldn’t be a glass of dreck that you can barely gag down with your steak...
read moreAlthough it’s freezing cold outside,( in Europe at any rate, I’m still sunning myself in South America) there’s always room for white wine, whether as an aperitif or something to go with a roast chicken dinner, white wine is a lovely choice. Pinot grigio is often the go-to drink when people are looking for a light...
read moreOne of the most intriguing things I found when I was in Uruguay was how willing the winemakers are to take chances with their wine. Quite a few times a winemaker would be explaining a new wine or discovery they had made and when I asked them how or why it came about, they replied, it was an accident! An accident that happened to...
read more
I get lots of PR blurbs, all part of the territory when it comes to being a blogger and, after a cursory glance, they usually get discarded but I got one the other day that made me perk right up. I admit it, I’m a sucker for idyllic beaches and when I saw the word Seychelles, they had me. I’ve spent a fair amount of...
read more“I hope you brought your camera because the cafe we’re going to for lunch is very interesting. ” I could say the same about Reinaldo DeLucca, the very interesting winemaker of his eponymous Uruguyan winery. When I mentioned I was going to Uruguay to try their wines, my trip was usually met with incredulous looks...
read moreThe invite said don´t be late, so of course I was legging it through Victoria Station in order to be on time to jump on board the Venice-Simplon Orient Express for a preview Christmas Lunch trip round the Kent countryside. I arrived at the Orient Express departure lounge on Platform 1 to be greeted by a 1920’s jazz band,...
read moreThey always say, be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. Last week I tried a rather anemic pinot noir from Mendoza, Argentina. I wondered if this was the best that Mendoza could do and vowed to try and find a Mendozan pinot noir with a bit more structure, body and flavour. Well, I succeeded, perhaps a little too...
read moreI´ve heard of abattoirs in the UK that play classical music to the animals while they are waiting for the chop and on a more pleasant note, people have been known to play classical music to their unborn children but classical music in a wine cellar? For the barrels? Well, why not? They are slowly “growing up” as the...
read moreAt the moment I´m sunning myself in summery Buenos Aires but before I left a wet and windy London, I spent an Evening on Islay, a single malt Scotch whisky tasting featuring the Scotch whisky of Bowmore at the Malmaison Hotel in Clerkenwell. I do like single malts. I was introduced to them when I worked for Oddbins and since then,...
read moreThe pinot noir was not a hit. What a shame. My Argentine friends asked me what ever possessed me to buy a pinot noir from Mendoza when I could have bought a perfectly good malbec or syrah from Mendoza. I guess curiosity got the better of me. I´ve had pinots from Patagonia but never from Mendoza so when I spotted it on the shelf I...
read more
