Sangiovese
Sangiovese, the most planted red variety of Italy, the grape of Chianti, Brunello, and Vino Nobile de Montepulciano is loved and disregarded in equal measure. As a grape it can be incredibly difficult to grow, unlike say Cabernet Sauvignon it doesn’t ripen evenly. Large tight bunches of grapes mean that the grapes in the centre
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Australian A+ Tasting
Anyone who has followed the wine industry over the last 18 months or so will know that Australia has been in a bit of bother on the wine front (cricket too apparently!!) directors of Wine Australia have come and gone, the messages and marketing have been mixed and allied with a weaker pound and a
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New World Icon Series 2
With a history dating back to 1682 Rustenberg could get a little upset as being labelled a “New World” wine producer. Originally German immigrants made wines here but in 1941 Peter and Pamela Barlow bought the estate with their son Simon, the current proprietor, taking over the reigns in 1987. However, Rustenberg is more than
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Valpolicella
Think Valpolicella and you probably fall into one of two categories, the first put Valpolicella into the same category perhaps they might put Frascati, Mateus Rose, or even Liebfraumilch – a pretty watery, insipid, overly acidic red number that frankly should be left in Italy and used as crowd control at football matches. The other
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Ardbeg Supernova 2 vs Bruichladdich Octomore3.1
For those in the know, Bruichladdich have been cranking up the levels of peat in their Octomore whiskies to unknown levels. The latest release comes in at a massive 152 parts per million peat. To give you an idea the ‘normal’ level of heavily peated Ardbeg is 50ppm. Ardbeg too have come out with ‘Supernova’
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Muscadet – Forgotten Wine
It seems that 20 years ago Muscadet was everywhere, it was cheap and cheerful generally clean although for some it was a little bit astringent but in 1989 we drank nearly 20 million bottles of the stuff, just six years later that had fallen to 8 million. Since then however it seems to have fallen
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All Prosecco is not equal
15 years ago when we wanted something fizzy and relatively inexpensive to drink we almost certainly turned to CAVA but changing tastes and some brilliant marketing have meant that Prosecco is now the fizz to be seen with. Even as recently as 10 years ago many people hadn’t heard about Prosecco – so what is
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New World Icon Series 1
Jim Barry was perhaps THE pioneer of wine making in Clare Valley, certainly he was the first winemaker to make high quality wines, and today the company which is run by Jim’s son Peter is not only at the forefront of wine production in Clare but are very near the front of the queue in
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New World Icon Series 1
Jim Barry was perhaps THE pioneer of wine making in Clare Valley, certainly he was the first winemaker to make high quality wines, and today the company which is run by Jim’s son Peter is not only at the forefront of wine production in Clare but are very near the front of the queue in
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Puligny Montrachet Les Enseignieres, Henri Prudhon
Just occastionally in this job we are able to have a little bit of fun. That means opening up a few bottles of something purely for interests sake, call it part of our ongoing education if you like. Today was one of those days, which after the trials of a busy, but snowfilled and flu
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