A party… with champagne… in 2020? Of course!
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- Published: 21 October 2020 21 October 2020
As Champagne Day on 23rd October is dangerously near, it seems appropriate to strike a reminder that there once was a world in which people met civilly, where corks popped and there was chat, cheer, and incredibly good champagne.
Apothic Cab 2019 - A Languorous Californian Cabernet
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- Published: 13 October 2020 13 October 2020
In these days of COVID chaos, anything that strokes, as opposed to stokes, the nerves is absorbed into our sphere of comfort with easiness.
Cedro do Noval, Douro DOC, 2019
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- Published: 03 October 2020 03 October 2020
New release of this fabulous vinho branco. I must admit some bias. Having spent some days last year beneath the cedar tree (as depicted on the label), enjoying the same wine with an array of fine tapas-style nibbles and in good company, the memory flood of herbaceous and other wild aromas associate freely with Cedro do Noval.
Loxwood 100% Pure Mead | From Loxwood Meadworks
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- Published: 28 September 2020 28 September 2020
At a recent out of town gathering, I met the director and mead-evangelist Danny Bacon. Danny has his connection to the world of medieval England at his family farm where people come to shake off their contemporariness and travel backwards through time to when folks drank mead, jousted and launched cannonballs at each other.
English Vineyards are flourishing; we’re visiting… so should you!
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- Published: 16 September 2020 16 September 2020
With restrictions still in place, we all now comprehend that life under lockdown is hard on the social psyche. It is hard on those preparing to take life forward when the government (in the case of the UK) shouts ‘halt!’, and then seemingly arbitrarily shouts ‘go’ in another direction.
Good ordinary and extraordinary claret
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- Written by Nick Breeze (@NickGBreeze) Nick Breeze (@NickGBreeze)
- Published: 08 September 2020 08 September 2020
People approach red wines from Bordeaux in myriad ways. Be it by budget, region, vintage, or, a mix of all three. For myself, I prefer the octopus approach: inquisitive tentacles and a wanton palate.
A selection of rosé wines for autumn
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- Published: 02 September 2020 02 September 2020
August has receded into memory and September is offering bright but slightly chillier starts to the days. Uncertainty around all things means we are still living out the most surreal of years.
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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.
