When I began my career as a wine merchant I was kindly gifted a book. It wasn’t new and definitely didn’t come with a gift receipt. It was a well-used, slightly yellowing copy of Alexis Lichine’s, Encyclopedia of Wines and Spirits: the reference book said giver had been using since he first bought it back …
Tastings are back in full swing and keeping us busy. However, whilst these events are a perk of the job, not all of them, or the wines showcased, are wholeheartedly successful. The recent Nebbiolo day held in London happened to coincide with a transport strike; as we had cycled there and inevitably had to cycle …
In honour of the late Steven Spurrier we have put together a list of Californian wines: some that featured in his famous 1976 Judgement of Paris tasting where they outperformed their French counterparts, and some that didn’t but certainly benefited from the event. Spurrier played a key role in the development of New World wines and particularly those …
There is a certain amount of expectation when you’re a wine merchant that every bottle you bring to a dinner party or give as a gift is going to be exceptional. We try as many wines as we can but it’s not to say we have tried them all and sometimes we like to experiment …
Opening a bottle of wine to discover it’s too old, too young, faulty, or worse, just distinctly average, is fairly irritating. But it shouldn’t put you off trying something new. We like to experiment and take risks with wine, that’s how we started out and we continue to open weird and wonderful bottles on an …
I don’t come from a family of wine drinkers. My father was in the Royal Navy and the extent of his drinking was one glass of Pusser’s Rum before bedtime each night. My mother’s drinking stretched to a glass of Piesporter if we ever happened to find ourselves in a restaurant, and perhaps two glasses of …
When our first son Bertie was born it became very clear from day one that he had no interest in dinner – his own yes, but ours, absolutely not. In fact, he was so hell bent on not affording us the luxury of dining in peace that we would mostly eat in shifts. That is …
