Mulled wine: Spice Yourself Up for Christmas 2020 Mulled Wine. It’s such a Christmas tradition, just like cards, trees and gift-giving. It’s a warming drink with a long history that’s made a welcome comeback in modern times. Sometimes known as spiced wine, it’s always served hot, whether indoors and outside, for example at the European Christmas markets that have become popular …
Moratti – Creating the Champagne of the South?
Moratti – Creating the Champagne of the South? I recently took part in a 1-1 online wine tasting with Gian Matteo Baldi, the CEO of Castello di Cigognola. The Castello’s Metodo Classico sparkling wine project is from the Oltrepò Pavese area of Lombardy, south of Milan. We tasted four brilliant DOCG sparkling wines; all made from Pinot Noir under the …
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Specialists: Online Italian Wine in the UK
Specialists: Online Italian Wine in the UK Readers often ask for recommendations for UK-based online Italian wine specialists. As we are currently in the tightening grip of the Covid-19 pandemic and the festive wine buying season is fast approaching, buying wine online is particularly appealing. With that background in mind, here are three online Italian specialists to try, each one …
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The Sherry Dog – Ratonero Bodeguero Andaluz
The Sherry Dog – Ratonero Bodeguero Andaluz Dogs are often said to be Man’s Best Friend. Well, I’m a Cat-person myself, but there’s no doubting the connection between people and dogs and their undoubted usefulness over millennia. Whether as companions, guards, guide dogs, drug sniffers, mountain rescuers, hunt assistants, truffle finders, racers or rounder-uppers, there’s a breed for that. We’re …
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Wine Wit and Wisdom – A Brief Interlude
Wine Wit and Wisdom – A Brief Interlude Back in 2016, an article on this website featured Ten Trivia that Titillate. You can still see that piece here. Over the intervening four years, I’ve also collected more wine words, sayings and quotations. So here are examples of wine wit and wisdom for your delectation, ranging from the banal to the profound, from the …
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International Sherry Week, 2-8 November 2020
International Sherry Week, 2-8 November 2020 International Sherry Week takes place between 2-8 November 2020. Time once again to celebrate Spain’s great gift to the world! There are the floral delights of a chilled Manzanilla or Fino. Or try the nutty notes of an Amontillado and Oloroso. Add the umami flavours of Palo Cortado, or the sweet caramel of PX. …
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Vegetarian Haggis – It’s Not so Offal
Vegetarian Haggis – It’s Not so Offal Vegetarian Haggis? A contradiction in terms. Hold on, not so fast. In the early 1990s, while staying in the Bruntsfield area of Edinburgh, we happened by chance on Macsween’s butcher’s shop. It was there that the late John Macsween built his reputation as a premier Haggis maker. On entering, we discovered his Vegetarian …
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Francone – Comparing Two Big Italian Red Classics
Francone – Comparing Two Big Italian Red Classics “The best way to arrive in Neive is to skirt the magnificent rows of Nebbiolo lining the road that leaves Alba and passes through Tre Stelle, then Barbaresco.” So wrote the founder of Slow Food, Carlo Petrini, in 1999. He went on to say, “Towards the end of summer, there is a stupendous array of …
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Derthona – Solving a Cult Wine Puzzle
Derthona – Solving a Cult Wine Puzzle This unprepossessing bottle of white wine hides away a genuinely remarkable story worth telling. It has an attractive label, yet that gives away little as to the contents, where it’s from, or just how good it is. In the UK, Italian rare-grape geeks are most likely to recognise it. In Italy, it’s become …
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Lightstrike – Richard of York Gave Battle In Vain
Lightstrike – Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain Incidences of lightstrike seem to be becoming an increasingly commonplace wine fault. At least, that’s my experience over the past couple of years. Whether at home, in restaurants, at tastings and even when wine judging. You may have noticed it too, as it’s foul-smelling. Curiously, it’s also a fault that’s less …
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