Bollinger La Grande Année 2012, 12%, Champagne, France (£440 for 6 in bond, J&B) Watch out champagne lovers: 2012 is not a vintage to miss. And Bollinger’s La Grand Année (LGA) 2012 is a wine to buy, even if you have to beg, borrow or steal. It’s that...
Did you know that the winners of the FA Cup, one of Britain's biggest sporting events, now celebrate (and dutifully spray each other) with non alcoholic sparkling 'wine' rather than champagne? It's a small detail, a pub quiz oddity if you like, but it made headlines...
Clusel Roch Traboules 2017, Coteaux Lyonnais, France (£12.67, Justerini & Brooks) Clusel Roch is an excellent producer best known for its excellent northern Rhône reds, including some delicious Côte Rôties. This Traboules is an intriguing and utterly delicious oddity. It's from the south of the little-known Lyonnais appellation, not...
Wine's brilliant. So selling it must be easy, right? Wrong. It's a crowded market. Brexit hasn't helped. Consumer confidence is low, we have a fluctuating currency and a punitive tax regime. On top of all this, people are drinking ever less. All this means we need our best...
'We believe English still wines have the potential to challenge Burgundy.' Let's consider that statement for a moment. Yes, it's hardly disinterested because it was said by an English wine grower (Ruth Simpson of Simpsons Wine Estate in Kent). And yet the Simpsons also make wine in...
Sidewood Isabella rosé 2014, Adelaide Hills, Australia (£21 or AUS$32, www.sidewood.com.au) Owen Inglis’s Sidewood Estate in Australia’s Adelaide Hills is a new discovery for us. Although the estate produces both still wines and ciders, it was the current releases of Sidewood’s sparkling wines that we were recently sent...
Passo Mastro Frappato Syrah Terre Siciliane 2018, 14%, Italy (£6.99, Lidl, *from 21st November 2019) This cheery, upbeat Italian red is a blend of Frappato with Syrah from Sicily. It was one of the better value wines on show among the 30-odd Lidl wines at this tasting – though...
'If there's one thing that gets wine lovers hot under the collar, it's great Pinot Noir. As for the Holy Grail - well, that's great Pinot Noir at a bargain price.' This Decanter panel tasting revealed exactly that - some outstanding Pinot Noir from Chile at...
Saint Veran Domaine Trouillet 2018, France, 13.5% (£17.99 or £15.99 when you ‘mix six’, Majestic) Majestic Wine has been through a pretty rocky patch of late and it’s left most of us wondering what exactly is happening with one of the country’s favourite wine retailers. The company first...
Rabl Grüner Veltliner 2018, Kamptal, Austria, 12% (£9.50, Marks & Spencer) There was a time when the Grüner Veltliner grape variety was touted as the next big thing that was going to take over the wine world. It hasn’t really happened. Notwithstanding, it’s still a great grape to get...