Author Archives: dccrossley

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About dccrossley

Writing here and elsewhere mainly about the outer reaches of the wine universe and the availability of wonderful, characterful, wines from all over the globe. Very wide interests but a soft spot for Jura, Austria and Champagne, with a general preference for low intervention in vineyard and winery. Other passions include music (equally wide tastes) and travel. Co-organiser of the Oddities wine lunches.

Now This Really Is Weird!

Posted on 07/04/2016 by dccrossley

It’s not often that I blog about a single wine. That’s not to say that there aren’t single wines worth focusing on. I mean, everyone was writing about the new vintage of Krug a couple of months ago, but that’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Austria, Austrian Wine, Sparkling Wine, Wine | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Is This the Outer Edge of the Wine World?

Posted on 01/04/2016 by dccrossley

I’m just returned from spending the best part of March in Nepal (hence the lack of posts here). It’s my third trip there, and the second in two years. People like to know what it’s like, and I always answer … Continue reading →

Posted in Nepal, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Wine, Wine Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Jurable or Merely Fashionable?

Posted on 23/02/2016 by dccrossley

When I first visited Jura in the 1980s only a few UK wine professionals seemed to have been there, and only one or two were extolling the virtues of the wines, principally the Vin Jaunes, from this attractive region. This … Continue reading →

Posted in Jura, Wine, Wine Tastings | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Natural Resistance

Posted on 17/02/2016 by dccrossley

Being a little beyond my youth now, I grew up in a world without home computing and without mobile phones. I also grew up in a world without organic wine. That’s not quite true. Plenty of producers avoided chemical applications … Continue reading →

Posted in Italian Wine, Natural Wine, Piemonte, Wine, Wine and Health | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Sicily’s Eastern Promise

Posted on 10/02/2016 by dccrossley

I fell in love with Sicily a long time ago, not as you might imagine by visiting the island, but after reading a book. John Julius Norwich’s “The Normans in Sicily” is the story of how the Norman House of … Continue reading →

Posted in Italian Wine, Sicily, Wine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Oddities #10

Posted on 06/02/2016 by dccrossley

Yesterday’s Oddities Lunch at Rochelle Canteen was a landmark of sorts, our tenth in a line of exciting events which take place every two months. Over those months we’ve drunk around 150 bottles of so-called oddities, ranging from wines some … Continue reading →

Posted in Oddities lunches, Wine, Wine Tastings | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Sweaty Gym Shoes on Hot Tarmac

Posted on 04/02/2016 by dccrossley

The Tasting Note as a form of wine critique is not new. It was around long before Michael Broadbent first published his detailed observations. He reputedly has over 90,000 of them in his famous notebooks. But Broadbent certainly established this concise … Continue reading →

Posted in Wine, Wine Writing | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Video Killed the Radio Star

Posted on 03/02/2016 by dccrossley

The New Year is a good time to reflect, a good time for manifestos too. At the back end of 2015 there seemed to be a lot of talk on two topics. First, we saw some negativity towards wine bloggers … Continue reading →

Posted in Wine, Wine Writing | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Waterloo Fish-n-Fino

Posted on 31/01/2016 by dccrossley

A group of wine lovers from the Wine Pages forum used to partake in dinners we called “Fizz & Chips”, combining that traditional English stalwart, fish & chips, with sparkling wine (okay, to be honest it was most often very … Continue reading →

Posted in Sherry, Wine Tastings | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Bugey Wonderland

Posted on 27/01/2016 by dccrossley

I remember a very long time ago playing a game when travelling around France. It involved trying wines which back then had almost never made their way over to the UK. Entraygues-et-du-Fel, Crépy, Irouléguy, Ripaille, Saint-Pourçain or Aprémont, for example. … Continue reading →

Posted in Sparkling Wine, Wine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments