Wine Knowledge

Our recent archive release of older vintages from the Rhône has been a spectacular hit, particularly with restaurants looking to get exciting, great value wines on their list for the Autumn. Trade magazine 'Drinks Business' reported as follows:   "According to Yapp's Bianca Ford, there has been keen interest from the on-trade. 'I think these […]

Some wines receive more attention than they deserve, others are scandalously un-championed. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s Château Miraval rosé has been getting quite a following in the past few years. It’s a good wine, and so it should be given that it’s made by the Perrins (of Chateauneuf’ Beaucastel fame), but it ain’t the […]

Auguste Clape (of Domaine Clape) is a legendary figure amongst Rhône wine makers renowned for his wry wit, wisdom, modesty and unparalleled track record in producing a succession of outstanding wines of incredible longevity. He worked his first harvest in Cornas back in 1949 and over the ensuing 6 decades has accrued an unrivalled knowledge […]

With temperatures nudging 30°C we had to don black tie last Thursday and head off to the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane for the 30th anniversary of the International Wine Challenge. Having been nominated for four Specialist Merchant Awards – Loire, Regional France, Southwest of England and Rhône as well as the prestigious ‘Wine […]

However many times one traverses the Montélimar meridian, the shift in climate and scenery heading South is always a striking contrast. Arriving at Châteauneuf-du-Pape in a Mediterranean 24 degrees, we rued packing those scarves and gloves. Claire Michel at Le Vieux Donjon reported a superb 2012 harvest, although volumes are down by around 20%. The […]

Having packed coats, gloves, jumpers and scarves in our hand luggage, we touched down at Lyon airport in glorious sunshine. Our mission was to undertake extensive barrel tastings of the Rhône 2011 vintage and get a heads up on the recent 2012 harvest. Our first port of call was at the celebrated Domaine Georges Vernay […]

The harvest is taking place in France and 2012 has been a challenging year for winemakers. A cold wet Spring and early Summer gave way to a searing heatwave in August with day time temperatures regularly over 40 degrees. As a result, vineyards have pretty much had everything chucked at them – frost, mildew, drought. […]

Sauvignon falls into the tiny category of grape varieties that are so popular that people order them in pubs and bistros without even specifying a preferred geographical point of origin – see also Merlot, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. While such a cavalier approach (which is even more prevalent Stateside than on these shores) may be […]

Our last day in the Rhône valley and feeling a little road weary, but we’ve saved the best till last. Appointments at Clape, Graillot and Chave proved to be as exciting as we had anticipated. A multiple cask sampling chez Clape is always an enjoyable experience, but not for the faint-hearted. The 2010 vintage in […]

Another pre-dawn awakening as we shuttled up a fog-bound Autoroute de Soleil to make our first appointment in Côte Rôtie at 10.00am. We found gregarious patron Joel Champet talking up the merits of the 2010 vintage as well as the prospects of ‘Les Bleues’ in this weekend’s Rugby World Cup Final: "they have nothing to […]