The Great Claret Tasting at Southwold has become one of the highlights of my year. 250 odd wines from one vintage, in this year’s case 2012. 20 tasters, people who I would rate as the elite of the UK wine scene.
Continue reading →At the end of this dinner, at the excellent Medlar, one of the more senior attendees said something like this: “When I first started doing these, it was about getting together with like-minded people and enjoying some special bottles. Now all you lot are sitting there writing your notes like schoolboys. That’s not the point.” […]
Continue reading →I remain intrigued by the question of who knows what and who doesn’t in the UK wine trade. Tasting, talking, drinking and working with the former camp has taught me most of what I know. I spent 2003 & 2004 working on the other side of St James’s Street: the side where the traffic now […]
Continue reading →I’ve tasted a lot of Champagne over the past few months, and have more of an opinion on it than I have done for quite some time. “Overlooked from an investment point of view” is what the moneymen have been saying for a while. Overlooked from a vinous point of view is what I say, […]
Continue reading →St Emilion: the Lost Boy. In that: what does St Emilion taste like? What is the epitome? Pauillac tastes like Lynch-Bages tastes like Batailley tastes like Pauillac. Margaux tastes like Margaux tastes like Giscours tastes like Palmer. And so on. Cheval doesn’t taste like Ausone doesn’t taste like Angelus doesn’t taste like Clos Fourtet. What […]
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