by Juel Mahoney
If Bordeaux is like the Hollywood of wine, during En Primeur week, the cellars are the sets. The tanks are shined to a mirror, the barrels are in perfect rows. After tasting the 2012 Chateau Palmer in their dramatic tasting room, Thomas Duroux excitedly whisked us away to show us around the new cellars. As one of the Fine Wine team’s favourite wines, we were …
by Juel Mahoney
After two days, our impressions of the left bank are very mixed. 2012 is not a uniformly good vintage for Pauillac, St-Julien, St-Estephe and Margaux. There are some good to very good wines but there are also some fiercely tannic, extracted and very difficult wines. As Ben Collins said on the way over the bridge to the right bank, …
by Juel Mahoney
We only have one CD in the car as we drive around the superstar chateaux on the left bank of Bordeaux: The Best of Rod Stewart. “It was only £2.50,” said Ben Collins, unwrapping it from its plastic, “No wonder went HMV bust.” We wondered how he could have paid so much – much as we wondered …
by Gareth Groves
According to the Chancellor, 10,000 pubs have closed in the last decade. Yesterday, George Osborne announced that he was going to help the industry by not only ending the beer duty escalator but cutting a whole penny off the current duty figure. He’s generous like that.
The policy strikes me as both positive and pointless.
‘Positive’ because ending any of the alcohol …
by Gareth Groves
Apparently we all lie when asked how much alcohol we drink. According to new research by University College of London, there is a significant gap between the amount of alcohol purchased in the UK and the amount we admit to consuming.
Unfortunately, it is extremely unlikely that this shortfall …
Derek Mossman Knapp of The Garage Wine Co talks about the how the winery has grown to become more than just a winery but a force for social change in Chile. 
How did The Garage Wine Co. Begin?
The Garage Wine Co. began in a garage next to the house. It was a hobby with friends and family that quickly …
by Juel Mahoney
When Australia is featured in the news in the UK it seems to be either a story about a natural disaster or a cute/deadly animal. This week we had both: the record high temperatures and terrible bushfires along with a story at the beginning of the week about Australia’s most famous wine critter, Yellow Tail.
For the first time …
By Will Lowe
Excitement is mounting in anticipation of the Bibendum’s Annual Tasting, this year themed “A Matter of Taste”.
One of the seminars involves what at first sight seems an unlikely pairing: a gin distillery and a perfumer. The Cambridge Distillery and Penhaligon’s are coming together to explain how their two worlds overlap more than you might think.
Both gin and …
by Juel Mahoney
There have been huge changes in the wine trade since Bibendum began thirty years ago in 1982. As we are nearing the end of our thirtieth year as a wine merchant, and at the end of one of the biggest years for Bibendum, it is time to reflect on some of the seismic shifts that have happened over the past …
There’s nothing more traditional at Christmas than Port and Stilton. Even though the Duoro is famous for its Port production, it is easy to forget there are producers also making dry table wines. Recently we caught up with Joao Roquette Alvares Ribeiro from Quintado Vallado who is creating a new tradition of table wines at one of the most …
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