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Exploring La Celia: A Premier Uco Valley...

Exploring La Celia: A Premier Uco Valley Winery Posted by on Feb 24, 2025

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Launch of the Piper Heidsieck Essentiel ...

Launch of the Piper Heidsieck Essentiel Cuvée Reservée Posted by on Jul 5, 2017

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Dinner with Santa Maria’s new Lati...

Dinner with Santa Maria’s new Latin American Kitchen range Posted by on Jun 14, 2017

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Discover Soil Therapy: Leading a New Wav...

Discover Soil Therapy: Leading a New Wave in Alsatian Wines Posted by on Feb 10, 2025

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Temptation at The Savoy Hotel, London

Temptation at The Savoy Hotel, London Posted by on Mar 2, 2016

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Castello di Radda, premium Chianti Class...

Castello di Radda, premium Chianti Classico Posted by on Jun 20, 2017

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Dining with the wines of NZ winery Jacks...

Dining with the wines of NZ winery Jackson Estate Posted by on Oct 20, 2013

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Brasserie Joel celebrates Eurostar’...

Brasserie Joel celebrates Eurostar’s 20th anniv. this May Posted by on May 6, 2014

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Saturday Snapshot – The Widow Hen ...

Saturday Snapshot – The Widow Hen from Wirra Wirra Posted by on May 25, 2013

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Saturday Snapshot -Kleine Zalze Shiraz M...

Saturday Snapshot -Kleine Zalze Shiraz Mourvedre Viognier 2011 Posted by on Feb 2, 2013

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Basque Cider, Fred Flintstone steaks and...

Basque Cider, Fred Flintstone steaks and catching a drink Posted by on Dec 15, 2016

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A visit to English Vineyard, Albourne Es...

A visit to English Vineyard, Albourne Estate Posted by on Jun 5, 2017

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Stina winery; visiting a Croatian island...

Stina winery; visiting a Croatian island vineyard Posted by on Oct 6, 2020

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Video – How to Read a Wine Label, the Douro Valley and Bourgogne Posted by on Sep 19, 2013
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Recent Posts

Want Unique Wine Gifts? Check Out Uncommon Goods Online

Feb 19, 15 Want Unique Wine Gifts? Check Out Uncommon Goods Online

Posted by in All

I often surf around the web just to see what kinds of wine related gifts there are out there for wine geeks (ahem, a certain Winesleuth is having a birthday soon, just saying).  I recently came across this lovely website that features quirky but stylish wine-themed gifts. You can have a look at some of their offerings here. The aim...

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My Top 5 Favourite Tapas Bars in Barcelona

Feb 18, 15 My Top 5 Favourite Tapas Bars in Barcelona

Posted by in Food and Wine, Travel

I spent most of last Autumn hanging out in Barcelona and while I was there, I discovered plenty of little tapas bars around the well worn tourist path. There are SO many crap tapas bars in Barcelona. I hope my little list will at least give you brief glimpse into what you can find if you scratch the surface and get away from the...

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Tasting Vin Clair at Veuve Clicquot, Future Champagne in the Making

Feb 17, 15 Tasting Vin Clair at Veuve Clicquot, Future Champagne in the Making

Posted by in Champagne

I like to think that vin clair tasting is similar to Bordeaux en primeur in that it’s a tasting where you are given a glimpse of the wine to come. With vin clair though you have to use your imagination a lot more to envision how the final blend will turn out. Bear in mind also that it’s not 2 or even 10 vin clair that...

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Dive Bouteille – wine tasting under the hills of Saumur

Feb 08, 15 Dive Bouteille – wine tasting under the hills of Saumur

Posted by in All

I was on Day 2 of my natural, biodynamic and organic wine tasting trip in the Loire and today we were in the town of Saumur for the 16th annual Dive Bouteille tasting. The Dive tasting is the oldest and most important natural wine tasting around. It was originally started by producers who wanted to showcase their wines outside of...

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Tasting natural, organic and biodynamic wines at the Renaissance des Appellations Greniers St. Jean

Feb 05, 15 Tasting natural, organic and biodynamic wines at the Renaissance des Appellations Greniers St. Jean

Posted by in All

What is ‘natural’ wine, exactly? Is it wine that is made without intervention – and what exactly does that mean? Is it wine that only has sulfur added at bottling? Or wine that has no added sulfur whatsoever? Or is it wine that is organically/biodynamically grown? After spending the weekend in the Loire at two of...

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Nicolas Feuillatte, biggest co-op in Champagne

Jan 30, 15 Nicolas Feuillatte, biggest co-op in Champagne

Posted by in All, Champagne

Everyone likes to talk about the grand marquees of Champagne, your Vueves and your Taittingers but the big houses are not the only players in Champagne. Like other regions, Champagne also has co-ops and one of the biggest in France is Nicolas Feuillatte. It is the largest co-op in Champagne with over 5,000 growers supplying grapes...

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“Extreme” Inniskillin or winter in Canada

Jan 21, 15 “Extreme” Inniskillin or winter in Canada

Posted by in All, Food and Wine

Earlier this month I jetted off to Ontario, Canada to check out their Ice Wine Festival and while I was there, we visited one of the legendary wineries of Canada, Inniskillin. The winery was founded in Niagara-on-theLake over 35 years ago by Donald Ziraldo and Karl Kaiser. Their goal being to produce premium wine from the Niagara...

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Good ol’ BBQ in Marylebone

Jan 15, 15 Good ol’ BBQ in Marylebone

Posted by in London

There are some things in  London that are hard to come by. One of those things is good ol’ American BBQ. Now, I’m not from any of the Southern states of the US but I do like a good BBQ so I was interested to see how a new BBQ place in Marylebone, of all places, would play out. Turns out, it’s pretty darn good. The...

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Ice, Ice (Wine) Baby – Niagara’s Ice Wine Festival

Jan 14, 15 Ice, Ice (Wine) Baby – Niagara’s Ice Wine Festival

Posted by in All, N. America

This past weekend I visited Ontario, Canada to learn a bit more about the delicious ice wines that they produce at their annual Niagara Ice Wine Festival as well as getting a great introduction to the region. The Niagara Ice Wine Festival has been going on since the 1990’s and is your chance to sample all that gorgeous golden...

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Part 2 of my visit to Vilarnau – Amphoras, chestnut barrels and tasting the cavas

Dec 11, 14 Part 2 of my visit to Vilarnau – Amphoras, chestnut barrels and tasting the cavas

Posted by in All, Spain, Sparkling Wine

Yesterday I visited cava producer Vilarnau in Penedes, Spain (post here).   After my tour of the grounds and winery, it was time for a tasting of their cavas. As we were walking through the cellar to the tasting room, we passed by a collection of clay vases that were sitting under a set of spotlights. Curious, I asked my guide,...

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