My latest book, Jura Wine Ten Years On, was released for sale in early September following deliveries to Kickstarter supporters. The book is a companion volume to my award-winning Jura Wine book, published a decade ago in 2014. The latter still sells very well around the world being the only truly comprehensive book on the… View more
With a plethora of wine podcasts, webinars and even dedicated TV channels emerging during and since the Covid lockdowns, as well as an upsurge of Instagram ‘wine influencers’, one might ask, is there still a space for good wine writing, does it even exist? Emphatically, yes it does. But life for the wine writer is… View more
It’s all too easy to believe that once a scientific advance has entered into common usage it must be the best and only way to solve a problem. However, just as how in the world of medicine a good surgeon will examine a patient thoroughly, in addition to looking at the results of an MRI… View more
The new Wine Grapes book by Jancis Robinson, Julia Harding and José Vouillamoz is now weighing down my book shelf, or more often grappling for space on my desk or dining room table. However, I have resisted taking this heavy tome on the plane to Turkey where I have come in advance of EWBC 2012…. View more
Earlier this month a debate was held between wine writer Monty Waldin, a specialist on organic issues and Dr Richard Smart, a highly experienced viticultural expert. In May this year was the first Natural Wine Fair in London, organised by Isabelle Legeron MW. During the whole year I seem to have had numerous conversations with… View more
When I first started delivering the WSET Diploma lectures on South Africa back in 1996, Chenin Blanc accounted for a massive one-third of total – red and white – Cape vineyard plantings. South African Chenin Blanc coming to the UK in those early post-Apartheid days tended to be off-dry, clean but rather neutral. And, when… View more
It’s been a long time coming, more than 20 years, but this year I am really excited that Savoie wines finally seem to be finding a tiny niche in the UK wine market and beyond. Earlier this month, I offered tastings of wines from three Savoie producers, all imported to the UK, to around 200… View more
Two intense, but wonderful days in Champagne in early December taught me much as always, not least that I have rather expensive tastes. Perhaps my greatest learning experience was to appreciate more about the very intricate and varied ways in which each Champagne House or grower chooses to make its base wines and the influence… View more
The London International Wine Fair (LIWF) celebrated its 30th anniversary this May and it was probably my 27th visit to the fair. Particularly in the past decade as I’ve split my time between France and the UK, it’s become a really important catch-up and networking event for me. The biggest positive change to the fair… View more
Vineyards in Maule © O. Fournier If you know just a little about Chile’s wine regions and imagine it as a ‘new’, modern wine country with high altitude vineyards, then the following won’t add up: Chile’s most important wine region has not only some seriously old vines of classic red wine varieties, ungrafted of course,… View more
