Month: September, 2015

Our new English Sparkling Wine

As we release the maiden vintage of our own-label English Sparkling Wine, Charlie Holland – winemaker at Gusbourne – follows its four-year journey to fruition. The story of this wine really starts with the 2011 vintage in Kent. The spring of that year was unusually hot and resulted in an early flowering. The heat didn’t […]

The rise of the Super Tuscans – and the response

In the second extract from our new book, Exploring & Tasting Wine, Chris Pollington – Italy Specialist – describes how the arrival of French grapes in Tuscany produced a clutch of new wines – and helped to spark a revival of the region’s indigenous varieties. Sangiovese, the great indigenous grape of Tuscany, is heralded today […]

On the range

Our Wine Buying Director, Mark Pardoe MW explains the thinking behind our restructured Own Selection, highlighting just a few of the changes to the range. After a gestation even longer than an elephant’s, our new Own Selection range finally emerged on Wednesday 2nd September, blinking in the lights of our new Sussex Cellar, and under […]

Going, going, gone

Earlier this year Simon Staples – our Sales Director in Asia – was auctioned off as part of a rather remarkable lot; he was to guide the winning bidders around Bordeaux’s finest establishments, all in aid of Room to Read. On an unusually sticky evening in early April of this year, the auctioneer’s gavel fell […]