As we pulled up through the gates of the champagne house/B&B of Ployez-Jacquemart we heard a doorbell go off. I walked back through the gate to get a picture and the bell went off again. Ah, a sensor gate, a very good way to know when people have entered the compound, either on foot or by car, especially when the winemaker is...
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I had the pleasure of trying the Lanson Gold Label 1999 the other day while I was in Champagne with the CIVC. Lanson is well known for their non-vintage champagnes but their lesser known vintage wines are the ones to wait for. Lanson makes their wine in a different style to many of the grandes marques in that they don’t let...
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The old saw goes, “How do you make a small fortune? Start with a big one and buy a vineyard.” Which is basically what Nicole Rolet and her husband, Xavier did in the late 90’s when they bought a derelict vineyard along the southern border of Gigondas in the region of Vaucluse in Provence. After having the land...
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Summer 2010 is over. Wait, did we even have a summer this year here in soggy England? Whether or not we had a proper summer, there’s always hope that we’ll have an Indian summer. Indian summer. The two words always remind me of N. American Indian moccasin-clad feet and sunny forest lakes (I know, I’m being literal...
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Charles Dickens used to work in a bank at 1 Lombard St. That bank has since been turned into the restaurant 1 Lombard St and I was there the other night for the launch of their new Wine Society. The restaurant’s sommelier Matthew Mawtus is going to be conducting winetastings in the bank’s former vault featuring not only...
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