….and 312 years later we continue the tradition of selling fine Italian delicacies with our annual tasting at One Great George Street introducing 32 producers and their fabulous wines to 250 appreciative customers. And afterwards most of them made it to No.3… Front row: Elisa Semino (La Colombera), Giovanna Rizzolio (Cascina delle Rose), Giuseppe Mascarello, Gianmario […]

As I sit back here in shanghai looking out over a drizzly, muggy, polluted skyline I find it hard to believe that only a few weeks ago  I was ciao-ing our way through the outrageously scenic Tuscan and Umbrian countryside. Blue sky, fresh air and even fresher pasta seem like another life away. Being into […]

After visiting 41 Chianti Classico cantina over 11 days I now feel a certain grasp on what’s going on among the Tuscan hills. I also got a grip on the twists and turns in the road, aided and abetted by my mate Tom (Tom). True ‘he’ occasionally threatened to lead me up the garden path, […]

I’ve just completed a two week, nearly four thousand kilometre tour of Lower Austria and Burgenland, the Mosel and Alsace, meeting producers and assessing the quality of the (very promising) 2009 vintage – something I’ll be blogging (on) about next week. In the meantime, and as way of preparation closer to home (in Piemonte), I […]