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 […]

Bellamy's enjoys an enviably secluded West End location on Bruton Place, isolated from the bustle of 21st Century traffic. There is an aura of calm in the oblong dining room, tastefully decorated with vintage Parisian posters and it looks and feels more like a private members club than a public eating house. This is unsurprising […]

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 […]

I am surprised at the chutzpah of some UK merchants trying to 'talk up' the 2008 Rhône as a 'superior' vintage that merits buying en primeur. The cold facts are that the 2007s (many of which are still available) are better across the board and the keenly anticipated 2009s should (on the basis of our […]

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 […]

Before my time in the wine trade and before my time with small children in the house a favourite cousin (Simon) and me would spend a fair few weekends over the summer camping and surfing on the northern shores of Devon and Cornwall. Simon is a few years younger than me but is still of […]

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 […]

An invitation to speak at the New Zealand Syrah Symposium in Hawke's Bay at the tail end of January was too tempting to resist. It was with a keen sense of anticipation that I packed summer clothes and headed off for the 'Land of the Long White Cloud'. I also packed 25 bottles of iconic […]

In this day and age, I'm conscious that I am showing my age by the fact that I still use a wrist watch as my main means of telling the time. Younger generations are choosing iphones and such like to keep a track on the hours of the day and I'm sure that when my […]