Category Archives: Wine

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

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

Chop Chop – Post Haisma/Le Grappin Lunch

Posted on 22/01/2016 by dccrossley

Nine winoholics, or at least that’s how one sometimes feels in failing to follow the “Dry January” dictat,  had a table booked at Quality Chop House on Farringdon Road for a post-Vinoteca tasting lunch (it is work, you know). As … Continue reading →

Posted in Dining, Fine Wine, Wine, Wine and Food | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Off to See the Wizards of Oz(gundy)

Posted on 21/01/2016 by dccrossley

It’s that time of year again, and despite telling you in my last post that I wasn’t going to join the wall to wall wallpaper of 2014 Burgundy Primeurs Week, you know that when it comes to the annual Vinoteca … Continue reading →

Posted in Burgundy, Rhone, Wine, Wine Agencies, Wine Tastings | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments