Category Archives: Wine

Howard Ripley’s Truly Great German Tasting

On 13 March 2019 Howard Ripley Wines held their biggest ever tasting at the China Exchange in Soho, London. For this tasting, thirty producers’ wines were on show, and I believe that twenty-six of them were actually there to pour for … Continue reading →

Posted in Artisan Wines, Fine Wine, German Wine, Mosel, Wine, Wine Agencies, Wine Tastings | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Small Importers at Winemakers Club

On the Monday of Raw London 2019, Winemakers Club hosted a tasting of ten importers. I managed to get to taste a handful of wines from eight of them, before heading thirty minutes down the road to Raw on The … Continue reading →

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Bordeaux – The Risk Takers (Vine Trail)

This fascinating tasting took place at Carousel on Blandford Street, London, on 6 March 2019. I say fascinating and I’m guessing that might elicit a snigger from those who are used to very traditional, conservative and expensive Bordeaux. However, Vine … Continue reading →

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Nebbiolo Day 2019

On 5th March I spent the day at the Royal Horticultural Halls in London, at Walter Speller‘s second Nebbiolo Day, the first being in 2017. Imagine, 92 Nebbiolo producers showing more than 500 Nebbiolo wines from 18 denominations in Northern … Continue reading →

Posted in Grape Varieties, Italian Wine, Piemonte, Wine, Wine Tastings | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Raw Wine 2019, Part 2

If Raw Wine has changed over the years, it is no more so than in this respect: whereas once the writer or blogger could identify the best producers with relative ease, now it is much harder. Of course, there are … Continue reading →

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Raw London 2019, Part 1

Mad March, that time of year when wine importers think we are capable of getting to four or five tastings a day trundles on (no exaggeration, as well as Raw yesterday there were at least four other “unmissable” wine events). … Continue reading →

Posted in Artisan Wines, Austrian Wine, biodynamic wine, Czech Wine, Natural Wine, Wine, Wine Agencies, Wine Festivals, Wine Tastings | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Recent Wines January and February 2019 #theglouthatbindsus

Being away for a couple of weeks in January, and ill for more than a week in February, I’ve decided that my regular “wines drunk at home” column will cover the first two months of the year. It’s a bumper … Continue reading →

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Vineyards of Hampshire

Vineyards of Hampshire is an umbrella organisation for what is now eight sparkling wine producers from the county, who seem to have got their act together for joint promotion. I say “now eight” because the original seven have recently been … Continue reading →

Posted in Artisan Wines, English Wine, Sparkling Wine, Wine, Wine Agencies, Wine Tastings | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Winemakers Club, Otros Vinos and Wines Under the Bonnet by Inna Sirota

Having made rash promises more than a week ago about all the articles I was going to write, I promptly got ill. Those promises will be met, eventually, but in the meantime I was unable to make it to the tasting at Antidote earlier this week.  Help was at hand…Inna Sirota has provided some notes on her favourite  wines from this event. I hope that they provide some recompense for my own  inactivity. I’d like to thank her for generously giving of her time to provide a  record of this important tasting. Inna spent fifteen years crunching numbers in New York (banking) and London (Google) before deciding to quit finance in order to concentrate on her passion for wine travel … Continue reading →

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Nekter-Roland-Modal

February is the month when we suddenly begin to see calendar congestion. The Spring portfolio tastings come so thick and fast that it is unfortunately impossible to go to them all. I’ve tried to select a good variety. The first … Continue reading →

Posted in Austrian Wine, biodynamic wine, Californian Wine, Czech Wine, Hungarian Wine, Natural Wine, South African Wines, Wine, Wine Agencies, Wine Merchants, Wine Tastings | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment