By J. M. Darkly http://www.winewomansong.com/
I love reading wine tasting notes in Italian. I always want to sing it back. For example, what is a vino da meditazione? It’s an intriguing term often seen in Italian wine notes.
It looks like the word “meditation”, but it’s not quite.
Coined by famous Italian gastronome, Luigi Veronelli, meditazione is often used to describe sweet passito wines or …
by Gal Zohar, http://myhaidu.wordpress.com
Last night I cracked. After 6 long years of resistance it all fell apart. Or, like the King would put it, “6 years down the drain”. I watched Sideways last night.
These were six difficult years. As a sommelier, pretty much every conversation started or ended with questions about fucking Merlot. At first I didn’t get it, then I learned to nod …
by Gareth Groves
Everyone knows blind tasting is tough. It is a vinous minefield that can damage reputations and ego in equal measure. One is reminded of the old Harry Waugh story, when the legendary stalwart of the British wine trade was asked when he had last confused Burgundy with Bordeaux: “Not since lunch” came the reply.
Down at Imbibe 2010 last week, two …
by Donald Edwards, sommelier and wine blogger at http://notesfromthedregs.blogspot.com
The Spanish idolise the bull, the Toro is hewn into their collective subconscious like no other nation.
1942 when Miguel Fariña started making wines might as well be in the era of the Aurochs for all the wines resemble those of modern Toro.
Harvest was on the 12th of October every year, no one stopped to …
by Robert Giorgione, http://robertfoodwinetravel.blogspot.com
Why is it that over the years wines produced from Chardonnay have got a bit of a bad rep? Why is it that we consider more positively and ‘affectionately’ enjoying a bottle of white Burgundy, as opposed to a ‘New World’ Chardonnay? Perhaps you have not realised it yet, but when you are enjoying a bottle of Meursault or Puligny-Montrachet, you …
By Jamie Ford
Quite rightly ‘Green Issues’ are increasingly on the forefront of people’s minds. Questions arise such as:
How can we be more environmentally friendly?
How can we make sure our lives and business’ are sustainable?
Has my chicken burger been organically farmed?
Sometimes it’s difficult to know where to start. So I took it upon myself to compile a list of tips that would help restaurants who were wanting …
By Heather Rankin, http://vaguelyvinous.wordpress.com/
Show your unfinished bottle some love!
Apparently, there are people who open a bottle of wine and don’t finish it in one sitting. I know. I didn’t believe it either.
This concerns me on many levels, but mostly because in as little as 2 hours that lively wine will start to succumb to …
Wednesday was one hell of a day. With the Eyjafjallajokull eruption leaving most of the chateau owners & winemakers stranded in Bordeaux it was left to Team Bibendum to hold the fort at home of cricket (you can insert your own Ashes and Lord’s gag here). A few hardy Bordelais did make it, including Christian Seely of AXA Millesime and our hero of the hour, Anthony Barton, who flew in by private jet. Mr Barton …
By the Huia Crew, http://www.huia.net.nz/
Huia winery
Vintage at Huia has been its usual hectic pace. Every year begins for us at pruning with expectation and anticipation building over the next 11 months. The weather during this past season has been unusual. Spring brought us a mix of very hot and sunny days, with some long cold wet periods in between. Flowering …
After a brief hiatus, it’s back to Bordeaux 2009.
Our tasting takes place on Lord’s tomorrow, and as I write we still don’t know if the Bordelais will be able to fly from Bordeaux to London tomorrow. Fingers crossed flights will be back up and running.
Even if the flights are cancelled, the show will go on. The wine is already here, the team are ready and raring to go and we are expecting a lot of …
