A week or so ago I received a media kit for Farmgate wines.They had called me a few weeks prior to get an address, and at that point I think I caused considerable confusion, when I said I didn’t review current release wines (or really do tasting notes at all). Anyway no wine was included [...]
Having been away for a few days I was shocked to learn on my reconnection to the Internet that Didier Dagueneau had died. There has been plenty of reaction around the various blogs and wines sites so whatever I add here is likely to be mere repetition. But, Dagueneau was, and will remain one of [...]
I don’t like them, but they do have some excellent promotional value for producers and retailers. That said, heres three reasons why they suck. 1. They do not replicate the conditions under which consumers drink wine. Do you taste through 100 Sauvignon’s before dinner? 2. Their results are inconsistent. I refer you to the analysis [...]
From the a fore mentioned tasting.
I received an email from Dombeya wines in Stellenbosch, South Africa. They have started a blog for their website. The website is quite cool. The blog is a little bit different to what I’d call a blog but it keeps a the site really fresh. I haven’t tried their wines but I have always liked [...]
This post on the state of Sauvignon Blanc is must read. I haven’t crunched the numbers on this years harvest yet but I’ll be doing it later this evening due to this post on the Sandihurst blog
From my suite of potentially excessively cellared New Zealand Chardonnays come a couple more from Nautilus and Alpha Domus. The Nautilus 1997 Marlborough was really just too tired. It had taken on an unattractive dirty almond nose which while consistent with the other chardonnays was no longer pleasant. The palate was better initially with super [...]
Not super old but for New Zealand Chardonnays this was a bit of step into the unknown. First up was a Foxes Island Marlborough Chardonnay 1998. Not bad all and all although it had very developed almond aromas as well as a hollowed out oak aroma. After a while it developed an odd minty menthol [...]
I attended Wine New Zealand earlier this week. What struck me whilst touring the various booths was the lack of differentiation in what the wineries were doing or even in the wines they were producing. Pressure is always likely to fall to pricing and discounting when products are not strongly differentiated. These shows are really [...]
I’ve been at the NZ wine trade show in Greenlane , Auckland over the last couple of days. It’s been very interesing and I had the oppertunity to try a few wines from new producers. One particular wine that I thought was quite interesting was a Hawkes Bay Pinot Noir from a producer called Lime [...]