Lately, I’ve been drinking some very good South African wine. S.A. wines used to be my whipping boy of wines. To say I was not a fan would be an understatement. I don’t know if it’s because of the World Cup or maybe it’s just we’re now getting better S.A. wines here in England but whatever it is,...
read moreJohn Duval’s last vintage at Penfold’s was the Grange 2002 but like most winemakers, he couldn’t bring himself to retire and when Ventisquero heard he was leaving Penfold’s they snapped him up to be a consultant, as they were just beginning to launch their syrah making venture in Chile. John has produced two...
read more“I want you to be as critical as possible about this wine.” That’s not usually a directive one gets at a wine tasting at a friends house but this was no ordinary wine and it was The Wine Rambler‘s house. We had in front of us, a German red wine. Pale ruby and almost translucent in colour, we were drinking it...
read more“Punctuality is the virtue of the bored.” Evelyn Waugh I can’t say that the Winesleuth is ever bored and so I was running to meet the Lebanese winemaker, Habib Karam at a winetasting in West London, late as always. I don’t know how it happens, time just seems to creep up on me and before I know it, I’m...
read more“Denise, there has been a slight change in our lunch plans today. Could you please call us? ” That was the first voice mail that greeted me on a recent Monday morning. I knew it was all that damn Icelandic volcano’s fault even before I returned the call. I was supposed to be attending a tasting and lunching with a...
read more