On a cold, grey, rainy (read: typical) London January day, I made my way to the Boxcar Butcher & Grill in Marylebone for a few bottles of Australian sunshine courtesy of Hay Shed Hill Wines. Owner and winemaker Michael Kerrigan was in town to show off his wines to the lucky ones of us gathered around the dining table. Michael...
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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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Quick! Off the top of your head,do you know what a trebuchet is? Unless you’re a fan of Australian winery Wirra Wirra or a Medievelist, you probably wouldn’t know it’s another word for “catapult”. That was one nifty bit of trivia I picked up while having lunch with Sam Temme, International Sales...
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Although Australia is the ‘New World,’ I was surprised when I visited recently to see how, at least in the Barossa Valley, they like to make wine the old fashioned way. It seems like many of the boutique producers there put a lot of effort into using grapes and making wines that both have a history in the region and in...
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Laying by the pool at the Novotel Hotel in Barossa Valley, the last thing I wanted to do was leave, especially considering this was my last chance to get some sun before returning to grey England but I had an appointment with Jacob’s Creek and so I reluctantly left the pool, headed for the Steingarten riesling vineyard....
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