It all goes back to a tasting sometime last year here in the Langhe of course, when I sniffed, slurped and spat my way through three score (and ten?) Barbareschi born of the promising 2006 vintage. I recall being held up by a flight of chewy ‘wonders’ (oh yes let’s all admire the cooper rather […]

While there’s much back-slapping over the quality of the 2009 harvest across Europe, here similar success has only heaped further pressure on the cellars of the Langhe, many fit to bursting after a dazzling run of ‘five-star’ vintages, from 1995 to the present day (bar 2002).

This morning Serralunga d’Alba awoke to the sad, sad news that Giovanni Rosso, pictured here standing to the left of his wife Ester and son Davide, died last night, following a brave two year fight against cancer. He was such a gentle, honourable man, who gathered me into the midst of his family like one […]

On Wednesday we held our annual Burgundy en primeur tasting, where Jasper and his producers got the chance to show off their 2008s to the eagerly awaiting public (and press!)   In between pouring and note-taking, we managed to catch a few words with Jasper and Benjamin Leroux, to talk about 2008 as a vintage: […]