This is a report on a very special tasting I attended in the gleaming riverside offices of Farr Vintners in Battersea, September 2017. It was a tasting with both a personal and political dimension. We were privileged to be tasting wines from the first decade of Royal...
January is the time of year when Burgundians show off their new vintage. Currently it's hard to cross the road in London without falling over a top-notch Burgundian producer clutching bottles of their 2016s - a year that is notable for reduced volumes due to spring...
Forty Hall Vineyard Brut 2015, 11.5%, London (£27.99-28.99, farm shop or website) Many wines are rewarding. But this fizz is rewarding on so many levels that recommending it feels like a virtue in itself. Get involved, the glib summary might read, because it will make you feel...
The Originals Washington Riesling 2016, USA (£9 on buy 2 save 25% or £12, Marks & Spencer) Pineapple - while undoubtedly delicious - is never an easy fruit. Not to peel. Not to juggle. Not to eat. Certainly not to pair with wine. So Ching He Huang's dish...
Black Cottage rosé 2016, 12.5%, New Zealand (£10.99 on multi buy or £12.99, Majestic or via Wine Searcher) A slightly more expensive option on Saturday Kitchen this time - but it's worth it. I was matching it to a delicious but tricky dish by Sabrina Ghayour: harissa lamb with...
Carmenere is the James Bond of wine grapes. It's mysterious, with a past shrouded in conjecture. No one knows how best to handle or contain it. It's often been on the ropes - but has proved a dogged survivor. It also goes under many pseudonyms, from...
Domaine G. Quillot Côtes du Jura Chardonnay Vieilles Vignes 2012, 13.5%, France (£8.99, Lidl, from 28th September 2017) Wow. This quirky, appetizing white is quite something. One thing's for sure: it won't be like any other Chardonnay you've tasted. Maybe it's not for everyone. But if you like your...
In the 1970s, a French customs official famously declared that English wine simply did 'not exist'. How times change. From a meagre total of around 1,500 bottles in the mid-1960s, English wine production now averages around five million bottles, with a national vineyard of some 2,000 hectares....
Colinas de Uruguay Albariño 2016, Uruguay (from £8, Sainsbury's) This refreshing Uruguayan Albariño was my wine pairing on BBC1's Saturday Kitchen for Freddy Bird's wonderful squid and carabineros prawns with bomba rice and aioli. It may seem an odd choice - but bear with me. Freddy's a big fan...
Jim Barry The Lodge Hill Riesling 2017, Clare Valley, Australia (from £10.99, Majestic) We're big fans of South Australian Riesling in this household and the Lodge Hill is a lovely wine - dry, tangy and invigorating in its limey, green apple purity but also softening wonderfully when...