Earlier this year I was singing the praises of the 2005 French vintage. And while I still think that there are a great deal of really good wines avaialable, I now have my doubts about some of the very best white wines from the northern regions like Alsace and Burgundy. This doesn’t mean that they [...]
For the first time a fruit has had its genome mapped. This may provide a resource to improve the selection of clones for particular sites there by matching the vines potential to that of the site.
Figures vary depending on what report you read but the crop level is certainly down in Italy but there seems to be good quality as well.
A colleague of mine, Regan McCaffery writes some exceptional tasting notes on Champagne and is kindly letting me reproduce them here. Regan’s notes are quite in-depth and you need to read the summary to get the full picture but his descriptions are excellent and paint a very good picture of the wines. In fact I [...]
Comments from Eric Asimov about the limitations of blind tasting. Hat tip Dr Vino
I was meant to be having sample of a 1947 Chateau Latour for tested for Caesium 137 today however the wine was not opened in the weekend. The purpose of the testing is to confirm the authenticity of the wine through it’s age. Although I’m confident that the bottle is what it purports to be [...]
I was sent an email about a USB flash drive that takes the shape of a bottle of Chateau Pontet Canet the other day. Even comes preloaded with cellar software, ring tones, a short video wine tasting with Michel Rolland (I’m not sure if he does any of the ring tones) and more. Could make [...]
I have mentioned before that the Herzog restaurant in Marlborough is a “must visit†if you are in the area. The food is fantastic, as is the service and the wine list is excellent as well, covering not only local wines but many of the great wines of France, Italy, Spain the US and Australia. [...]
Recently there has been some rather interesting pricing of cleanskin wines in the New Zealand retail market place. Cleanskins are wines sold without a label; the consumer often encounters them in retail or supermarket as simple black and white label that covers all the legal requirements. Usually accompanied by a statement that they come from [...]
Currently sitting on my desk are these two wines standing upright to let any sediment settle. On Saturday their time is up! I’ll post some notes after the tasting particularly about the 1947 Chateau Latour which I’m also having analysed for Caesium 137. I’ll explain about this in a later post.
I purchased a bottle of wine sealed with a Zork a couple of days ago. The Zork is an alternative seal to cork or twist tops but probably has more in common with a cork. The Zork uses a conventional bottle and is essentially two pieces; the stopper and the winding (both of which can [...]
Chilean Wines is an aptly named blog focusing on Chilean Wines. It’s really great to have someone out there focusing on just Chile. Well worth a look.
After yesterdays time trial the race travels North East to Huesca for today’s start which will take the riders high into the Pyrenees. The starting town is very close to the Somontano wine region. Again this region uses a mixture of French and Spanish varieties. Producers to look out for include Enate and Aragónesa. Although [...]
Last Sunday was the first of three days I spent attending the Wine New Zealand show at the Auckland show grounds. It s a sort of trade fare thats open to the public with a good proportion of NZ wineries represented. The Sunday was pretty quite and exhibiters seemed to almost outnumber attendees at times. [...]
Yet again a day late… Werent we just in Zaragoza and what the hell is an ITT? Yes we were just in Zaragoza and now we are going back for more! But not before we take a gander at Cariñena. An ITT is an Individual Time Trial where the riders are set off a few [...]
After a transfer from Logroño to Calahorra the riders head south east to Zaragoza leaving the Rioja region in the process passing through the Navarra viticultural area as well as passing Campo de Borja. Navarra borders Rioja and shares many of its climate and geological traits however the vineyard make up is different with a [...]
I was of course, supposed to post this last night but work got in the way. Anyway better late than never! Yesterday gave a little respite to the riders (although they probably don’t agree) with a largely downhill run from Reinosa in the Cantabrian Mountains to the heart of Rioja at Logroño. View Larger Map [...]
Congratulations to Vladimir Efimkin who won yesterday’s mountainous stage and who now holds the overall lead. Today the riders will face another tough day in the mountains though and we will have to hold on until tomorrow when the Vuelta rolls into Rioja! For news on the race check pezcyclingnews.com
The 2007 vintage is not looking too good in either France or Italy.
Today will see the riders having to endure the first of the big climbs with the mountain top finish at Lagos de Cavadonga. Again the race does not pass through a major wine region but gets relatively close to Liébana; a lesser known classified region. Being a cooler and receiving relatively higher rainfall this general [...]
Today stage 3 begins for the riders in the northern coastal town of Viveiro and takes them 153 kilometres east to Luarca. View Larger Map The route does not pass through any major wine regions but it does pass near Cangas de Narcea which I have to admit I know very little about except that [...]
Still in the north west of Spain stage 2 takes the riders 150 kilometers north from Allariz to Santiago de Compostela. View Larger Map This route crosses the Ribeiro region which uses much the same varieties as Rias Baixas (see yesterday’s stage 1 post). The Atlantic has a strong influence, moderating the climate.Again The Albariño’s [...]
No it’s not a spelling error it is in fact a grape variety. Most red grape varieties produce clear or white free run juice. To produce red wines the colour must be extracted from the skins. Normally this is done by leaving the “skins in†during the fermentation of course, Kolor however produces coloured juice. [...]
I’m attending the New Zealand Hospitality Show for the next three days It includes the Wine New Zealand Show. If your in Auckland it’s well worth a look, tickets are $20.00 at the gate.