Feeling the summer heat at Tenuta Di Arceno in Chianti Classico, Tuscany

Tenuta di Arceno is situated just northeast of Siena and south of Florence in the Municipality of Castelnuovo Berardenga in the Chianti Classico region. The area is picture book Tuscany with rows of vines, orchards, and a relentless daubing of Cyprus trees completing every perspective of the landscape. 

Read more ...

Blind Tasting Cabernet Franc at Tenuta Sette Cieli, Tuscany

We have ascended the 400 metres to Tenuta Sette Cieli, located in the hills behind Castagneto Carducci, in Pian delle Vigne in Monteverdi Marittimo, for an opportunity to examine the potential of Cabernet Franc grown here in this corner of Tuscany in a comparative blind tasting with examples from the Loire, Napa, and Bordeaux.

Read more ...

Heartwarming dishes with fabulous bargain reds for a wintry glow

Scottie Gregory tastes three appetite igniting red wines from Tesco, pairing them with a series of desirable food plates that will see the reader scampering towards the cucina with ravenous intent.

Read more ...

Pick of the Grand Crus Classés St Emilion 2018

Brendan Barratt tastes the St Emilion Grand Cru Classés 2018 reporting on mixed results but with a few highlights worth noting.

Read more ...

2019 PF Shiraz, Yangarra Estate Wines, McLaren Vale, Australia

100% Shiraz

Geology: North Maslin Sands Formation (54 Million years old) with Sandy Loam over clay soils.

Read more ...

2018 old vine Grenache, Yangarra Estate Wines, McLaren Vale, Australia

100% Grenache Certified Organic/Biodynamic.

Read more ...

2019 Noir, Yangarra Estate Wines, McLaren Vale

Blend of 6 grapes: 40% Grenache, 21% Mourvèdre, 14% Shiraz, 12% Cinsaut, 11% Carignan, 2% Counoise 

Read more ...

Donnafugata: expressing Mount Etna

Art & Expression

In Greek mythology, Zeus was said to have trapped a monster called Typhus beneath the mountain. That might explain the near-constant active displays that we witness on our news and social feeds from those standing in proximity to this tumultuous lady.

Read more ...

Three Barolo’s by Giovanni Rosso

Piemonte is only a few hours drive away from here but under the lockdown conditions, a visit is currently off-limits. It was a pleasure to receive these wines in 2020 and they have been delayed in posting due to the chaos of relocating here. It is a real pleasure to post these now with some thoughts for local food from here in Liguria.

Tasting these superb wines by Giovanni Rosso there is an incredibly alluring character to these wines with layers of complexity. They are fantastically charming.

Read more ...

Apothic Cab 2019 - A Languorous Californian Cabernet

In these days of COVID chaos, anything that strokes, as opposed to stokes, the nerves is absorbed into our sphere of comfort with easiness. 

 

Read more ...

Subcategories

Follow us on social media:

Secret Sommelier on TwitterSecret Sommelier on Instagramfacebook 001linkedin 001youtube 001

Last week a picture was posted on Twitter of vines in Shabo, a large estate that lies to the west of Odesa on southern Ukraine’s Black Sea coastline. The image seemed benign at face value but the reality, of course, is that the city of Odesa has been bracing itself for attack by Russian forces. 

 

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.

 

 

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!

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

We use cookies to improve our website and your experience when using it. Cookies used for the essential operation of this site have already been set. To find out more about the cookies we use and how to delete them, see our privacy policy.

  I accept cookies from this site.
EU Cookie Directive plugin by www.channeldigital.co.uk