It was a fascinating experience putting together my recent BBC Radio 4 documentary The Wine Detectives, on how wine fraud is affecting (and being combatted by) top wine producers and buyers. Radio is such a brilliant medium for wine. So personal and evocative - almost meditative,...
Is old wine better than young wine? It’s a common question. And the answer is, as ever, a qualified one: it depends. Largely, it depends on your preferences. Which do you prefer? The freshness and firmness of youth? Or the smoothness and so-called secondary or tertiary characters...
‘May you be in heaven a half hour – before the devil knows you’re dead!’ So runs the famous Irish toast, which I quoted at a gathering of Britain’s finest retailing talent at the Decanter Retailer Awards on 20th September 2018. My chairman's speech was a similar...
Was this the worst Decanter panel tasting ever? Maybe that's over-stating things a bit. It certainly was heroically underwhelming. Dispiriting, even. Of 62 Chilean Sauvignon Blancs from £8-30, only 10 wines broached the 90-point threshold. More than half scored a lacklustre 85 points or less. No 'Exceptional' wines....
'A viticultural paradise.' That was how some people used to refer to Chile. A country whose vineyards were refreshed by pure Andean melt-water, free from pests and diseases that afflicted other less wholesome nations, and where all vintages were bountiful and even. These days, reality is catching...
'My friend Steve Anderson died earlier this year. Car crash, southern Chile. A journalist, campaigner and all-round cranky man, he gave me my first proper job. His main role in life was to be a pain in the backside. Mainly to those in positions of...
Back in February, following a whistle-stop tour around Chile's wine heartlands, I was sat down for an interview by Alvaro Peralta Sáinz for Vida & Estilos. The resulting piece is in Spanish, accompanied by a somewhat sombre photo portrait (I plead weariness). To paraphrase, though, I was...
Did you know that the UK's wine plantings account for a mere 0.07% of the global wine vineyard? Or that it was probably the Normans, not the Romans, who really got the English wine show on the road? Ever realised why Britain is one of the trickiest places...
We've been tasting a fair bit of English sparkling wine lately. (Lately?! Who are we kidding...
Since Decanter magazine launched its Man of the Year accolade in 1984, there have been 36 recipients. Nine from Bordeaux, five from the UK, three apiece from California and Australia. And now, it has its first name from Chile: Eduardo Chadwick. It's a big moment, not just for...