The river Thames and London Bridge formed the backdrop for our comparative Léovilles tasting at Glaziers Hall last night. Six vintages of Barton and Poyferré spanning twenty-three years, two legendary châteaux making wine from a great terroir. The 2008s set the scene for the evening with an early look at the youngest vintage physically in
Monthly Archives: March 2012
While in previous vintages the buzz from Bordeaux has been more or less inescapable, you may have noticed that everything has been somewhat quieter this year. Having recently travelled out to Bordeaux as part of a trip organised by the Institute of Masters of Wine, I can confirm that this is not because 2011 is
Following a couple of years of mentioning how much I would love to visit Piemonte, my requests came to fruition this January so I brushed up my holiday Italian, packed numerous jumpers and set off with great anticipation. This fêted region in the foothills of the Alps was everything I expected and more. Despite almost
Following our extensive tastings of the 2010 vintage in Burgundy last November, Nick Dagley and I returned to the region in February and visited this small domaine tucked away off the beaten track in Vosne-Romanée. The delightfully unassuming and diligent Jean-Marc Millot has been making the wines at this estate since 1992, and acquired most
; ; ; It has been a frantic and tiring couple of weeks for the winemakers of the Cercle Rive Droite, the 10 year old association of a number of Châteaux from the right bank of the region. They have been travelling around the world, showing their 2011′s (in many cases alongside their 2009′s or
Given the opportunity to attend Majestic Wine’s annual management conference yesterday I jumped at the chance, not least for the insights to be gained on many of the exciting developments planned over the next twelve months across all areas of the Majestic group. Having previously attended for many years as a Majestic store manager I
I am told it is purely coincidental that two very fine producers, Philliponnat and Gaja, should have happened to be booked to come to our office and present their wines last Thursday, on (our buyer) Nick’s birthday. Be that as it may, neither my colleagues or myself felt the need to give him much grief
Every now and again we like to get a few bottles down from our storage at Vinothèque to remind ourselves about some of the wines we have offered in the past and of which we still have stock. Sometimes once an offer is over and we move onto the next release, the next vintage, the
While we whole-heartedly believe in the quality of the Rhône 2010 vintage, it is always good to have one’s pronouncements seconded by others. So, we were pleased to read in Decanter this week that John Livingstone-Learmonth has given the vintage in the Northern Rhône rave reviews: “Here is a rare vintage – one so good
Last night Robert Parker released his 2009 Bordeaux in bottle scores, confirming that 2009 is unquestionably the greatest vintage he has ever tasted. He awarded an unprecedented 19 perfect scores stating that “In short, 2009 is the greatest vintage I have tasted in Bordeaux since 1982, of which it is a modern-day version, but greatly
Quick LInks & Recent Posts
The Penfolds Wine Dinner June 14, 2013
The rewards of patience – Peter Gago wine tasting June 14, 2013
Summer drinking with our seasonal wine offers June 5, 2013
Dom Pérignon for breakfast… May 24, 2013
Krug: bubbling over in Champagne… May 16, 2013