Wine Knowledge

I understand the concept of modern air travel, but still find it slightly unsettling that one can turn off a spur of the M4 at 5.00am and be tasting Côte Rôtie in a cellar in Ampuis before coffee.     Arriving at Domaine Champet, Joël, Max & Romain were hard at it pressing the last […]

Rhône wines continue to offer outstanding value across the board. OK, we declare our partiality at the outset of this piece. We are Rhône lovers, Rhône merchants and, for the umpteenth time, IWC Rhône Merchant of the Year. But allow us, at least, to make our case. Northern Rhône wines (which count for just 10% […]

The T-shirt in the photograph is a fake. I am certain of this as I printed it myself to see if I could create a print that would 'pass' as being genuine. You can deduce from this that I should get out more but also that appearances can be deceptive and that counterfeiting is a […]

One of the frustrating things about a career in the wine trade is that my family and friends are convinced that I spend most of my waking hours discoursing over fine wines in upmarket eateries while they are putting in hard graft at the rock face. It's very disheartening to return, exhausted, from a buying […]

We have been tracking the rising interest in Jura wines for some time, tasting them whenever we could and awaiting an opportunity to visit this unspoilt region on France's eastern frontier. Our chance arrived just before Easter, as we found ourselves only an hour away in Beaune for the Grands Jours de Bourgogne and decided […]

Our new 2016 wine list is hot off the press and after months of planning and preparation we are delighted with the results – so do let us know if you or a friend would like to receive a copy in the post.     Toby Ward joins a roll call of celebrated artists who […]

"2014 should have a place in cellars thanks to the delightful pleasure they can supply, both in the Northern and the Southern Rhône." John Livingstone-Learmonth, drinkrhone.com "...this vintage produced supple, charming, friendly and superficial efforts that will drink nicely right from the gate. The silver lining is the quality of the whites... these have good, […]

Southern Rhône - Day 3 Having left Tain L'Hermitage feeling a perceptible chill it was pleasing to head South into sunshine and pitch up at Le Vieux Donjon in Châteauneuf-du-Pape in positively Mediterranean warmth. The Northern and Southern Rhône vineyards may only be an hour's drive apart but they distinctly different in terms of climate, […]

Northern Rhône - Day 2 An audience with Jean-Louis Chave at his HQ in Mauves is always a pleasure and he has a gift for succinctly describing the different facets of any given vintage. This is a fascinating insight into his fastidious attention to detail and profound understanding of the vine-holdings over which he presides. […]

Northern Rhône - Day 1:     Having left home at an unearthly hour to catch a 7am flight to Lyon we touched down in chilly mists. after an hour's drive south to Ampuis the clouds parted and we were treated to a vista of vines in glorious sunshine. On the steep La Viallière vineyard […]