Initial impressions of wine regions can often disappoint: arrival at a non-descript airport followed by a drive across a bleak light industrial landscape until hills loom into view on the horizon and vines are finally spotted. My first visit to Alsace was no exception, the drive from Basel airport across the border towards Colmar memorable […]

We had a bit of a treat last week when we celebrated the 900th anniversary of the extraordinary vineyard called Clos Blanc de Vougeot. It is well known how the monks of Cîteaux, having established their new monastery in 1098, started to plant up what is now the Clos de Vougeot from 1110. Fewer people […]

Following on from our very successful Bordeaux 2009 tasting in London last Monday, Emmanuel Cruse from Ch. d’Issan (Margaux’s oldest château, no less) came in to give us a taste of some of his vibrant, floral back-vintages and explain to us a little about the history of this beautiful estate.

It’s been the most hectic, frantic and let’s face facts, bonkers three weeks of my 22 years in the wine business. Seventeen hours-a-day of what seemed like stratospheric prices that we shouldn’t buy at one minute, that then sell out in an hour…….I’ve never seen anything like it.   So is this insanity that’s all […]