Cellier des Dauphins, taking 'modern-style' to scale in the Rhone Valley
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- Published: 18 May 2020 18 May 2020
The heady days of pre-lockdown have become a fuddled misty memory of a bygone time as many of us adapt to life through a lens. Wine lovers the world over are making great efforts to support the winemakers that they love and appreciate.
Yet sometimes the wine we love and appreciate comes in the form of a brand where the scale of production extends beyond what could be meaningfully called personal, however, not all brands are cast in the same mould. Cellier des Dauphins is a case in point.
Bruce Jack's Journal, Lockdown, Yum Yum Wine & Igniting Personal Mythologies
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- Published: 10 May 2020 10 May 2020
In preparing to speak to Bruce Jack for this interview there were very apparently too many avenues to explore. Thankfully, Bruce doesn’t shy away from engaging and digging deep on subjects that one might not expect to cover in a wine orientated interview.
Instead of transcribing, that would take me forever, I have tidied up the interview for Youtube and as an inaugural podcast for the SecretSommelier podcast channel (I will not be waxing lyrical about anything on the channel but will be adding interviews with wine pro’s to the channel).
Wine Photography Awards Winners Announced
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- Published: 29 April 2020 29 April 2020
Last night the prestigious wine photography awards category of the Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year 2020 were announced.
Quinta Do Noval & Ramos Pinto Declare 2018 Vintage Port
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- Published: 27 April 2020 27 April 2020
Quinate do Noval and Ramos Pinto port houses today declared their 2018 vintage ports. Representatives from both house released commentary to the press:
Christian Seely, Managing Director of Quinta do Noval, comments:
Fino sherry: a champion of elegant flavours
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- Published: 23 April 2020 23 April 2020
This evening after our golden sunlight strewn lockdown stroll, we arrived home with more than an ounce of peckish-ness. It was a perfect moment to open a bottle of Bella Luna Fino Sherry, made by producer Sanchez Romate, and serve with pistachios. British people were once so enamoured with sherry that (even with a vastly smaller population) the region could not keep up with demand.
5 Best Rosé Wines For The Lockdown 2020
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- Published: 21 April 2020 21 April 2020
The best rosé wines taste a good as the sunshine makes you feel - a rapid succession of sips, a smacking of the lips and we are in a technicolour dream of memories, laughter, voices and whatever else comes to mind. Here’s a selection of fine rosé wines I have enjoyed of late - warning, there will be more coming!
Wine communicators go LIVE during LOCKDOWN
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- Published: 17 April 2020 17 April 2020
With the world in lockdown and those who can and care to, turning to their wine wracks, cellars, fridges and merchants, a growing number of professional wine communicators are turning their webcams or phone cams on and switching them LIVE - here are a few that I have spotted and think worth sharing.
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An aperitif by the coliseum
As COVID-19 conspires with the grimmest of winds and rain to force a societal retreat behind our own front doors, the word ennui springs to mind. The muddle of displeasure is pierced when Natalia hands me a large bulbous glass of a liquid I do not recognise.
Artichoke pasta and very fine Pigato
Britain’s lamentable exit
On the eve of Britain’s official departure from the EU, my partner and I decided to explore a small town on the Italian Riviera where thewintry cold doesn’t feel so much like cold war bite.
I had warned my significant other that I would be having an inverse departure party, a release of the sanity valve if you like!
Soave: volcanic wines with elegance and longevity
Sitting inside the ancient castle walls inside the town of Soave, a short drive from Verona in northern Italy, the unique slightly almond aroma of the indigenous grape, Garganega, rises gently from my glass. The castle sprawls up the side of an extinct volcano that gives the region its variant soil structures that mark out the better quality of Soave wines.
An American In Paris; Tanisha Townsend (@GirlMeetsGlass) discusses podcasts, Paris wine bars, & what she's drinking at the moment
Tanisha Townsend decided to move to Paris 4 years ago after regularly passing through the city en route to the world’s most famous vineyards. In fact, it was about 2 years ago at the Printemps de Champagne Bouzy Rouge tasting in Reims that I saw (who we shall now refer to as) GirlMeetsGlass chirpily speaking to her web followers on Snapchat.
Wine tasting in Galicia: The pilgrims search for Albarino
The cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, the final resting place of Saint James, rises out of the landscape, infested with antiquity. The rambling steep streets give way to shafts of dramatic light, emblazoned chapels, and tightly packed tapas bars, dusty, as old novels pressed together in antiquarian bookshops.
Interview: (Re)Defining the Entre-Deux-Mers, climate change & tasting with Stephane Dupuch
Driving into the Entre-Deux-Mers region from the north, the vineyards roll out like a bright green deep-pile carpet across the undulating land. It’s hard not to be excited about tasting wines with so much heritage, as we head to Chateau-Sainte-Marie to meet with 5th generation owner, Stéphane Dupuch.
