Opening with the ‘basic’ wines he was almost apologetic at their simplicity. Personally I found them a delight; no idea of price at the time (the top of the range comes in at a very reasonable €20 cellar door) but to a bottle these ‘lesser’ wines were lovely, offering a balanced richness, a true regional acidic streak in the RI.VA.LE Chianti and a touch riper, softer palate to the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.

The Judgement of Parsons Green – not perhaps having the same lustre as the famous Judgement of Paris – but this yearly event pitches English sparklingRead More

Finally I’ve joined the Wine Society. The application went in just before Christmas, the first order arriving not long after. The reason for joining was simple;Read More

A set of six photographs from a visit at the Sevilen Winery, just outside Izmir in Turkey; a prime grape-growing region, Mediterranean climate an’ all. “InRead More

 food was exquisite, really, really delicious. Not a great expert on Japanese foodstuffs – the closest and most recent acquaintance being some dull supermarket sushi aboutRead More

Following on from my dismal attempts at small talk (like speeches, not my forte) I settled in for tasting various wines with the two cheeses thatRead More

d’Arenberg The Derelict Vineyard Grenache 2009 – the latest in the regular Sunday Wine Snapshots series highlighting photographs with a wine related theme

On the doorstep a nice looking box hiding, (surprise!) wine! Specifically from Invivo Wines, New Zealand with two classic Kiwi varietals a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc andRead More

Earlier I was piling ready-made gin and tonics amongst the tubs of ice-cream and salad into the shopping basket when one of those beige people totteredRead More

How would you react given free-run in a wine shop? Able to sample anything and everything on the shelves (with a price limit admittedly) to compareRead More