At the moment Barcelona, 28 degrees dry sunshine, and Cava feel like distant memories.  But I can still almost taste the 1999 Gran Reserva Celler Batlle, of which more later. Last week, I was with our sparkling wine buyer Simon Field as guests of Gramona, who have been producing wine and Cava for over 100 years. After an […]

For those of a certain age the words Beirut and Lebanon are shorthand for all that has gone wrong in the Middle East over the past generation; the cauldron of a preternaturally complicated Civil War is still simmering; checkpoints abound on the dusty roads and even smart buildings such as the famous downtown hotel Phoenicia are […]

It’s finally happened! Thirty years after launching the Berrys’ Own Selection range of ‘house wines’, a range that now numbers approximately forty labels, I’m very pleased to announce that we’ve found the ideal Nebbiolo wine to become our Berrys’ Barolo! Coming from the village of Verduno, the wine is a traditional blend made by the […]

It was only my second visit to Austria but my inaugural, and most satisfactory, encounter with the fine estates of Knoll, Nikolaihof, Ehmoser, Bründlmayer and Pichler-Krutzler; along with Prager, Schloss Gobelsburg, Moric and Wachter-Wiesler. I sense a most exciting offer beckons this autumn! Austria’s 2011 vintage, echoed across much of Europe, was characterised by a […]