I was invited by Veuve Clicquot to be a part of their harvest this year and I of course, jumped at the chance. For the past few years, the House has opened it’s doors to select journalists and friends of the house to participate in the joys (and backaches) of a traditional grape harvest. This being Veuve Clicquot however, we...
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There’s no hiding the fact that I do adore champagne. Someone asked me at a dinner the other night, “what’s the one wine you would always recommend?” I, of course, piped up with champagne and then was rather sniffely told that was a lazy choice by another wine geek at the table. WHAT?!?! Ridiculous, there...
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One of the things I love about wine, among the many, are the back stories that go with them. Meeting the winemakers or owners and listening to their tales of how the wine came to be, is fascinating and for me, always enhances the wine drinking experience. I had just returned to London from a long press trip but wasn’t going...
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Recently the “Queen of Australian Viognier”, Louisa Rose, was in town as part of a large contingent of Australian winemakers to hit our shores. Louisa is the Chief Winemaker of the Barossa Valley’s Yalumba Wines and has been deeply involved with the production of their viognier. She’s started out as a cellar...
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The Douro not only makes great port wines but they are now also beginning to produce their own “terroir” driven red and white table wines. While I was in the Douro recently at Quinta do Noval, I got to taste some of the great red table wines they are producing. Christian Seely, MD of Quinta do Noval and I had a brief...
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New Zealand winery, Yealands Estate recently won a slew of awards at the International Wine Challenge 2012 (The International Sauvignon Blanc Award, The James Rogers Award and the Marlborough White Wine Award), pretty impressive for a winery that only produced its first wines in 2008. Their chief winemaker, Tamra Washington was in...
read moreI was in the Douro Valley not long ago visiting one of the historic port houses of Portugal, Quinta do Noval. The quinta was founded in 1715 and was bought by the French conglomerate AXA Millesimes in 1993, which is how Christian Seely came to be managing director of the Quinta. Christian was my host while I was visiting the Quinta...
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I was invited to partake of the Cuisine et Chansons night recently at Brasserie Joel in the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel. I remember when they were building that hotel but up until now, have never actually visited it. I was pleasantly surprised by the ambiance and decor of the place. I quite liked it, all cool and sleek with...
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Earlier this week I was invited up to Edinburgh, Scotland by the Skyscanner people to take part in a blind tasting to judge the best Economy airline wines. Being a frequent flier, I was intrigued to see how the airline wines stacked up against each other. Truth be told, when I’m flying, all I want it a drinkable wine, the...
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I first met Australian winemaker Neil McGuigan of McGuigan Wines a few years ago when the winery first did the “Vines in the City” event in London. I thought it was a great way to get consumers literally closer to the vines without the hassle of having to actually travel to a vineyard. Neil and Brian McGuigan were back...
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