Lessons in wine: Don’t be intimidated by fine wine, it’s a fun journey September 15, 2015 Recently in this column we have waxed didactic on popular wine regions for drinking and investment, detailing facts about Bordeaux, Champagne, and Tuscany. But for readers who are new to fine wine and perhaps overwhelmed by the plethora of information, how and where does one start? The easiest answer, of course, is via client dinners [...]
Why Chile is perfectly suited to making delicious wine September 8, 2015 This week we attended a tasting run by one of Bordeaux’s leading negociants, CVBG. However, it surprisingly featured no Bordeaux wine, instead only Italian and Chilean. The Place de Bordeaux is the wine trading system originating in the middle ages which sells 70 per cent of Bordeaux’s wine by volume into 160 countries. What some [...]
Lessons in wine: discover the sweet magic of Sauternes September 1, 2015 Most of us would rank Bordeaux among the great red wine-making regions of the world and, with around 450m bottles produced there each year, we’re certainly not short of a drop. However, there is also a substantial following for White Bordeaux; Sauvignon Blanc fans would be advised to divert their attention from New Zealand for [...]
Demystifying the Italian stallion of the wine world August 18, 2015 Have you ever felt as though the world of wine was an elite club, made up of snobs intent on throwing around words such as “mouthfeel”, “cuvée” and “vinification”? You are not alone. Learning about wine can seem daunting, and plenty of people will try to convince you that their palate is more sophisticated than [...]
Desert Island wines with Bordeaux Index founder Gary Boom December 9, 2014 While we’re toiling away at screens and desks, day-dreaming about the Grand Cru we might open with friends on Saturday, Gary Boom is doing just that. He’s the former City broker who had a brainwave about the wine business after making his first fortune, and has turned it into Bordeaux Index, one of Britain’s largest [...]
Graciano: An obscure but memorable wine from Rioja and Navarra November 18, 2014 It’s not often I come across a completely new wine these days. But that’s what happened when I was wandering through the vineyards of Rioja a few weeks ago at harvest time. Intriguingly, it is a wine made from a grape variety that has been around for more than a century. The grape varietal [...]
Go all the way with Beaujolais November 5, 2014 My least favourite date in the entire wine calendar is 19 November. It is, of course, Beaujolais Nouveau Day, the time when marketing men and desperate wine bar owners flood the Square Mile with cheap, nasty, pink plonk and try to kid us that it is something special. If I haven’t made myself clear, Beaujolais [...]
The Bottle Opener: Why you shouldn’t overlook Rioja October 14, 2014 There are perks to being the Bottle Opener, and this is definitely one of them. I’m relaxing in the late Autumn sun, gazing across a rich vineyard down to the river Ebro. With me are two charming fifth generation descendants of the founder of one of Rioja’s great houses, and we are tasting some magnificent [...]
Why it’s high time to revisit the maligned Muscadet August 28, 2014 I was lucky enough to spend a few hours of the bank holiday enjoying a stellar meal at Rick Stein’s Seafood restaurant in Padstow, Cornwall – that place has really moved up a gear or two since I was there last. After the pleasantries came the rather pressured task of examining the wine list; all [...]
Abandon your prejudices and drink rosé this summer July 29, 2014 It’s high summer and that can only mean one thing: death by rosé. At the barbecues and on the patios of England, pink wine is being served by the gallon. We all smile politely and neglect to tell our hosts that most of it is barely drinkable. Like others I have always been a rosé [...]
