Articles

A book review of “Platter’s South African Wine Guide 2020”

by  |  12-08-2020

South Africa has been having a tough go of it recently in terms of alcohol but especially when it comes to the wine industry. I made a video a few weeks back expecting it to... more »

The Great Gazpacho Tasting 2020

by  |  10-08-2020

There are but two things which will unite any person holding a Spanish passport: an utter hatred of politicians and a complete love of gazpacho. For those who might not know it, gazpacho is a... more »

A book review of “Brut Force”

by  |  05-08-2020

Last year I reviewed the first book in the Felix Hart series of novels called, “Corkscrew”. My review was admittedly not too kind as while the book was a fun, lighthearted take down of the... more »

A bunch of cool Croatian grapes for the summer

by  |  03-08-2020

Yet another hot summer arrived in Croatia, but it certainly feels a bit different this year. There are far less tourists, which is actually not that bad as you don’t have to elbow your way... more »

The wines of DOQ Priorat in 2020

by  |  30-07-2020

Having written about the wines of Priorat for nearly a decade, some readers might wonder if I’m perhaps a touch bored of, you know, year in, year out tasting Grenache and Carignan wines from these... more »

What’s a Sommelier?

by  |  27-07-2020 ~ 16 Comments

The sommelier. What was once just the guy in the room with a corkscrew has become one of the sexier titles to hold these days. But what does it mean? The most basic definition of... more »

Understanding the Corpinnat wine region, in 3D

by  |  24-07-2020

The producers behind Corpinnat are always striving to show how the definition of their region (which isn’t a DO yet) differs from that of both DO Cava as well as DO Penedès as these two... more »

DO Cava releases new zones, tweaks, & a fresh serving of brand-new names

by  |  23-07-2020

So, it took about two years. This was time DO Cava spent consulting and figuring out how to release a zone and subzone classification scheme. This is no small feat given that the idea is... more »

Avaline wine and transparent production

by  |  20-07-2020

It would have been hard to avoid the news of Cameron Diaz and Katherine Power launching their white and rosé “Avaline” wine last week. In what was an amazing-to-behold marketing campaign, their PR firm, KLG... more »

In The Glass: Domaine Cauhapé – La Canopée 2017

by  |  17-07-2020

The region of Jurançon in Southwest France has a white heart. With the principle grapes of Petit Manseng and Gros Manseng as well as smaller amounts of Lauzet, Courbu, Petit Courbu, and Camaralet de Lasseube... more »