Month: December, 2011

Festive feasts

With Christmas less than a week away, now is the time for panicked last-minute purchases and hurried preparations for that all important Christmas Dinner on Sunday. With that in mind, we’ve put together a basic guide to festive food and wine matching! Remember that the most important factors to consider when matching food and wine […]

Chianti-shire: one bit of Europe I think the English would rather like to cling onto…

Last week I led a group of Berrys’ suppliers from across Italy to Tuscany to exchange views and experiences with five Chianti Classico counterparts, including Bibbiano, Badia a Coltibuono, and Castello di Ama. A fascinating experience viewed through the eyes of Italians, and at the same time reminding me of just why ‘Chianti-shire’ remains such […]

An insight into Burgundy 2010

I have just emerged from under the cosh of preparing January’s Grand Burgundy Offer unveiling the 2010 vintage. This time of year is always very high pressure – firstly we need to taste the whole range of wines – around 500 of them – and prepare tasting notes; then there is the frantic whipping in […]

Puglia, where the future looks ‘rosato’

Spurred on by an impressive display of Italian wines made from autochthonous southern grapes at the June’s event ‘Radici del Sud’, as covered in my blog, I took to the road last week to explore the vineyards of Puglia, stretched out across the ‘heel’ among the olive groves, in an attempt to find out where […]