The middle of May is a time normally dominated by the unrelenting force of a Bordeaux En Primeur campaign, however for one afternoon my Fine Wine colleague Martyn Rolph and I were to be wowed by the excellent wines of Domaine Faiveley alongside the food of Philip Howard at his two-star ‘The Square’ in Mayfair. […]

2011 is a sensational vintage in the Douro valley. I remember speaking to one of our producers in December of 2011 and remember vividly their confidence in the harvest (though cautious to point out that a declaration was not to be confirmed until 2013). Reports about the vintage have continued to be enthusiastic and the […]

We awoke to a wet, dark Monday morning on the Left Bank in Margaux and the poor weather continued throughout our journey to the Right Bank and St Emilion.  There is something special about tasting wine at the site where it is created and having the chance to take in a vineyard’s terroir, topography and […]

We were expecting the start of Bordeaux En Primeur tasting week to pass with a little less commotion than we have enjoyed in recent years as we chose an earlier flight than normal to depart from London Gatwick. Surprisingly, the flight still seemed to contain almost everyone else we know from the UK wine trade, […]