Beaujolais is for life, not just for Christmas – Pt.1 Ah, Beaujolais! Mention that word and the memories flood back, still fresh from half a lifetime. Beaujolais was where it all started. I never anticipated a lifelong wine journey would result. What would have happened if Beaujolais and I had not coincided? Life would have been very different. Let me …
Three Colours Red – Beaujolais, Pt.2
Three Colours Red – Beaujolais, Pt.2 Beaujolais part 1 was mostly a love letter to the region where my wine journey started. This part 2 is Three Colours Red. It covers the three main divisions, namely Beaujolais, Beaujolais-Villages, and four of the ten Beaujolais crus. There is a wine recommendation for each one from encounters over the past couple of years. Then, …
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Diversity discovery in Valpolicella, Part 1
Diversity discovery in Valpolicella, Part 1 Part 1 of this article explores the diversity of Valpolicella; concerning grapes, styles, laws, terroirs, and winegrowing philosophies. Then Part 2 features twelve recommended Valpolicella wines illustrating these features. So, what do we think of when we think of Valpolicella? Is it: A: A cheap red quaffing wine without merit produced in vast quantity for supermarkets? or B: …
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Valpolicella – Discovering Diversity Part 2
Valpolicella – Discovering Diversity Part 2 Part 1 of this article was about the diversity found in Valpolicella; in grapes, styles, designations, terroirs, wine growing, and philosophies. This Part 2 features a dozen great examples of Valpolicella wines designed to illustrate these points. They are also arranged in pairs to compare and contrast. Such is the strength-in-depth within Valpolicella that this article …
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Kirkjuvagr Aurora – a Gin made for Winter
Kirkjuvagr Aurora – a Gin made for Winter When the current gin boom began some ten years ago, few would have wagered that it would still be continuing unabated today. Now there are more than 300 gin distilleries in the UK, double that of five years ago. This growth is due to the many new small artisan brands which major …
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New Zealand celebrates 200 years of viticulture
New Zealand Celebrates 200 years of viticulture. The first record of vines planted in New Zealand was on September 25, 1819. It’s in a journal by Samuel Marsden, an Anglican missionary. (He was born in Farsley, less than ten miles from my home in West Yorkshire). He wrote that there were “about 100 vines of different kinds”. However, there seems …
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Runcata Soave Superiore DOCG, Tenuta Corte Giacobbe
Runcata Soave Superiore DOCG, Tenuta Corte Giacobbe I recently had the pleasure of visiting Tenuta Corte Giacobbe, to find out more about their top Soave Superiore DOCG called Runcata. Runcata is made only with the Garganega grape variety. It’s a single vineyard right up on the Eastern border of Soave. The terroir here has different characteristics from others in Soave, …
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Tenuta di Ghizzano and a double anniversary
Tenuta di Ghizzano and a double anniversary The Tenuta di Ghizzano occupies the gently contoured low hills of the Colline Pisane, southwest of Pisa, less than an hour away. Here, there’s plenty of wine grown in coastal Tuscany, yet they are often obscurities. Twenty-six generations of the Venerosi Pesciolini family have owned this 350-hectare estate since 1370. Today it’s in the …
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Georgia Gvino – a brief introduction to wines of Georgia
Georgia Gvino – a brief introduction to wines of Georgia In this Part I, we journey to the Black Sea and the Caucasus, to the crossroads of Europe and Asia. Georgia is an ancient country that’s been a melting pot of cultures. It also lays claim to being the origin of winegrowing. It has an 8,000-year wine history evidenced by …
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Asolo: Prosecco with a sense of place (Pt.1)
Asolo: Prosecco with a sense of place (Pt.1) On a clear day in Venice, take a moment and look inland to north-north-west. On the horizon, shimmering in a lagoon haze, are a range of hills forming the first outliers of the alps, some 60 km distant across the pancake-flat land of the pianura. Here lies the town of Asolo; perched on …
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