Supermarkets sell almost 90% of all the wine bought in the UK for ‘off-trade’ consumption, i.e. not including wine drunk in pubs, bars or restaurants. Buying wine in such huge quantities gives economies of scale and cheaper prices, but do you get what you pay for? In other words, is supermarket wine any good? To […]
2020 Favourite Wines of the Year
I’ve tasted A LOT of wines in 2020. Here are my favourites for the year – and some recommendations for you to try yourself.
Hambledon Vineyard: A Rival to Champagne?
Can English sparkling wine ever rival champagne? Based on the results of two of Noble Rot Magazine’s events when various champagnes were tasted ‘blind’ against English sparkling wines, most certainly! In 2015 Hambledon Classic Cuvee came top out of 12 wines. And in 2020, Hambledon’s Premier Cuvee came 2nd out of 24 wines, beating several well-known names […]
Château de la Grave ‘Nectar’ 2010, Côtes de Bourg
2010 was an exceptional year in Bordeaux and the vintage was characterised as ‘classic’ and long-lived, i.e. high in tannin! So after almost 10 years of slow and gradual maturation in storage I decided it was time to try a bottle of Château De la Grave ‘Nectar’. Here’s what I found.
Lockdown Wines Part 3: Chapoutier La Combe Pilate Viognier 2017
If you love viognier then you need to try this one from legendary producer Chapoutier in the Rhone Valley.
Lockdown Wines Part 2: Austria’s Feiler-Artinger
Feiler-Artinger Blaufrankisch Ried Ruster Umriss 2015, Burgenland Austria Last year Criterion Wine Tours organised our first ever wine tour to Austria. On the first evening of the tour Kurt Feiler, winemaker at Feiler-Artinger in the pretty town of Rust, came to our hotel and gave us an excellent tasting of his wines during dinner. One […]
Lockdown Wines Part 1: Greece’s Monemvasia
Wine inspiration for lockdown. Check out our great list of all things wine to pass a few hours at home!