Two classy Spanish reds
I’m painfully aware that while I’ve focused in-depth on Portugal, I’ve neglected Spain. I’m sorry about that. In an attempt to begin to redress this balance, here are two rather classy high-end...
View ArticleAnother serious South African
This is a really superb Cabernet Sauvignon from South Africa. It’s beautifully put together with seamless structure and real purity of fruit. If I have one criticism of it, however, it is that it...
View ArticleA memorable meal at Shimo, Healdsburg
Last night’s meal at Shimo, Healdsburg will live long in the memory. It describes its offerings as ‘modern steak’, and the steak we had was probably the best I’ve ever experienced. Between five, we...
View ArticleAnother serious Napa wine
So, after my good experience with Cain’s Five, here’s another serious Napa wine – this time, a varietal Cabernet Sauvignon. Again, this was drunk, not tasted. It also passed the drained bottle test –...
View ArticleTwo Cabernets from Napa Valley: Silverado and Grgich Hills
I’ve only visited California’s most famous wine region – Napa Valley – once. But I was quite taken by the place. It’s actually a really good place to grow wine grapes, and makes some really...
View ArticleLa Petite Vigne Amazing Grace Cabernet Sauvignon, Franschhoek, South Africa
This wine is really impressive. It’s from a Franschhoek winery I was introduced to through a friend (the brother of owner and winemaker Kevin Swart), who also make wines under the Black Elephant...
View ArticleWakefield (Taylors) The Visionary Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Back in 1969, Bill Taylor bought 440 acres of land on the banks of the Wakefield River, near Auburn in the Clare valley. At this time, the Australian wine industry was focused on making fortified...
View ArticleTwo great own-label wines from Fortnum & Mason – Franken and Margaret River
You have to love the way Fortnum & Mason get the world’s greatest wine producers to make their own-label wines. Here are two such examples, which we drunk yesterday afternoon while judging the...
View ArticleGandolini 3 Marias, a brilliant Cabernet Sauvignon from Maipo, Chile
Stefano Gandolini’s winery focuses solely on Cabernet Sauvignon from the Maipo Valley. This wine was new to me: nicely packaged, in a big heavy bottle, it made me a little wary. I was worried it was...
View ArticleLunch at Mission E2 with some nice Californian wines
On Thursday I had lunch at one of London’s most exciting new wine destinations: Mission E2, the second venue from Sager & Wilde. It’s a beautiful space in a nicely converted railway arch near...
View ArticlePenfolds Bin 707 1993
This is a wine I bought back in the 1990s from a UK supermarket for around £16 (it was on offer). How times have changed! Current releases are super-expensive. This isn’t supposed to be a great year...
View ArticleWakefield The Pioneer Shiraz and The Visionary Cabernet Sauvignon
Wakefield, known in Australia as Taylors, are a leading Clare Valley producer, and they have recently begun making two very high-end wines: The Pioneer Shiraz and The Visionary Cabernet Sauvignon. I...
View ArticleCloudburst: the remarkable emergence of a cult Margaret River wine brand
Cloudburst is a really interesting and slightly controversial wine project in Margaret River. Interesting? Because the wines are so good. Controversial? Because of high prices, despite the lack of any...
View ArticleFour nice SA reds: Restless River, Pofadder, La Motte Syrah Viognier,...
A few interesting South African reds tasted together. I’d heard a lot about the Restless River, and didn’t quite know what to make of it: Hemel-en-Aarde is cool climate for Cabernet, and the wine is...
View ArticleSome wine highlights so far from Napa
Over the last few days we’ve tasted quite a few wines. It seems a bit unfair to pick favourites, but here are is a personal selection of some highlights. Antica Townsend Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon...
View ArticleIn California, day 4 – Napa Valley with Peter Michael, Corison, Trinchero,...
Les Pavots, Kinghts Valley Day four of the California trip. By now, the group was certainly performing, and this was to be one of our strongest days in terms of banter and general foolery. Of course,...
View ArticleThe Marques de Casa Concha Cabernet Sauvignon 2014, an important wine for Chile
This is an important wine for Chile. Marcelo Papa, chief winemaker with Concha y Toro, has been on a journey away from excessive ripeness. He has been picking as much as a month earlier for the...
View ArticleNew Zealand Syrah masterclass, with four imposters
Peter Cowley (Te Mata), Warren Gibson (Bilancia and Trinity Hill) and Steve Smith These are my notes from the first tasting At the Hawke’s Bay Symposium on Classic Reds, held at Trinity Hill, Hawke’s...
View ArticleLokoya, high-end Napa mountain Cabernets, with winemaker Chris Carpenter
The WE Keyes vineyard in Howell Mountain Chris Carpenter, winemaker, introduced this tasting of the four Lokoya wines, after taking us for a quick tour of the beautiful WE Keyes Howell Mountain...
View ArticleNapa Valley Cabernet, a question of style
After writing up yesterday’s Napa Cabernet tasting, I dug around and found this report, from a tasting held at the Jackson Family Wines internal meeting in Napa back in May 2017, which I hadn’t...
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