Yapp Travel

For as long as I can remember I've taken holidays in the wilds of North Wales and  growing up in the Midlands I'm sure I'm not alone in this experience. It's a place of breathtaking beauty and extremes - if the sun shines its idyllic however if it decides to rain, its well, the reverse. […]

On our recent Yapp sortie to see our French vignerons in Burgundy and the Loire, I became very aware of the huge range of weird and wonderful creatures that we encountered along our travels. Normally, of course, vineyard domaines are essentially agricultural places therefore one would expect to see cats and dogs and the occasional […]

Having developed an unhealthy interest in cycling the legendary peaks of the Tour de France over the past few years and having my friend Paul Bottrill entered in to this year's Etape du Tour (see August 2009 posting 'Etape in Cotes du Rhone'), I chose to spend a long Bank Holiday weekend on 'recon' in […]

The Eternal City is a great destination for a Spring break with the family. April doesn't guarantee good weather but it does ensure that you don't swelter too badly as you tour the sights of the Centro Storico. A good starting point is to buy a Roma Pass (widely available at stations and tabacchi) for […]

Like many other families we found our Easter holiday break involuntarily extended due to the closure of UK airspace at the end of last week. Having had a terrific week in Rome (more of which at a later date) we were enjoying dinner in a restaurant with friends on Thursday evening (which we believed to […]

At the tail end of February, Tom and I were privileged to take up an invitation to visit the Chave family at their H.Q. in the village of Mauves to taste barrel samples of forthcoming vintages and catch up with developments at this historic estate that has an unbroken father to son lineage dating back […]

Heavenly Heathcote A blog entry can't be expected to do justice to a visit to world-renowned Jasper Hill, but I'll try and distil the flavour. Based an hour and a half north of Melbourne on an iron-rich, 100m wide, 2m deep strip of Cambrian soil, the Jasper Hill estate and its creators Ron and Elva […]

There is a common misconception that all Syrah grown in the New World is known as Shiraz but in reality this is far from true. New Zealand wine-makers universally refer to this noble grape as 'Syrah', a policy for which one individual can claim the credit. Alan Limmer of Stonecroft vineyard in Hawke's Bay was […]

Despite the impact of the GFC* on the CBD** (Australians love abbreviations) Melbourne boasts a vibrant and innovative restaurant scene that can rival anything to be found in Europe or America. Melbourne also hosts a magnificent food and wine festival each March which attracts an international roll call of chefs, critics, wine-makers and sommeliers. A […]

I've just spent an enjoyable sojourn in Hastings, Hawke's Bay attending the New Zealand Syrah Symposium where I had been invited to talk about Northern Rhône wines and present a tasting of some personal favourites. This well-organised gathering of wine geeks was preceded by a Cabernet Merlot Conference all of which added up to a […]