Thought sediment about wine (and other loosely related subjects)  Trash talking about wine Oh, the imperative of the pitch. I have 15 whole seconds to deluge the eager (or not) visitor to my table at the trade tasting with relevant (for which, read: meaningless) information, and to convey all the points of difference between the wines in the minimum allowable time. No repetition, hesitation or deviation. It is Samuel Beckett’s Breath with (meaningless) words. Most people, of course, don’t need or want to know the minutiae of wine – that quasi-informative babble detailing soil mixes, root ..read more

The crocuses (crocii?) are croaking and semi-spring is in the air and we are delighted to bring you news of three fantastic tastings in as many months! Very imminent is Newbies On the Block, a trade tasting in Leeds featuring the latest best and brightest new arrivals (new wine, new vintages and the odd old favourite). This will take place at the historic Tetley building on Tuesday 28th March, there’s still time to register for this and you can do so HERE Then, The Real Wine Fair goes north of the border!!! For our first ever Real Wine Fair Edinburgh.  Twenty-five growers from a half a do ..read more

Herefordshire cider house rules It is said that the first recorded references to cider in this country date back to Julius Caesar’s invasion of Britain where his armies found the native Celts fermenting crab apples, those ancestors of the bitter sweet and bitter sharp varieties used by today’s English cider makers. Cider has come a long way. On the one hand, we are all-too-familiar with the mass-produced fizzy that is pasteurised, carbonated and cold-filtered and uses flavouring agents to get its essential “appliness”. At the other end of the scale, is the rough, full-bodied homemade drink ca ..read more

The badger’s nadgers The Monte di Grazia estate is located in Campania in the town of Tramonti, inland and up from the Amalfi Coast, in the Lattari Mountains.  It’s a cool, breezy microclimate and an isolated place. The terraces on which the vineyards have been planted consist of volcanic ashes, originating from former eruptions of the nearby Vesuvius as well as red clayey soils. Although a secluded spot, there is continuous ventilation coming from the nearby coast as well as inland winds blowing from the north, which not only have a mitigating effect in summer as well as winter, but ..read more

Jaén heir Though this is madness, yet there is method in it. Vinos Bio Pedro Olivares is a project in Murcia coordinated by the aforementioned Pedro Olivares with the objective of making natural wines from old organically-farmed vines between 50-110 years of age. Whilst virtually all the old vineyards are located at high altitude, he has also planted an experimental vineyard which is the highest in Europe, being at 1700 metres above sea level. Work is based on the principles of biodynamic agriculture, although Pedro has taken this one step further, describing the project as “multi-dyamic agric ..read more

Last week I read a tasting note in a wine magazine describing the flavours of a red wines as “black animal tobacco.” Now, while it is highly probable that the tasting note was shot out of the random word generator cannon, or the writer had fallen into and subsequently drowned in a stream of unconsciousness, it may also be indicative of the fact that anything goes – including puma cigarettes – in terms of describing what a wine tastes like. Lest we forget, tasting notes are meant to function as serviceable wine descriptions. Anyone who knows me is probably aware of my deep dislike of pretentio ..read more

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the majority of labels that adorn the many hundreds of different bottles of wines in the Les Caves portfolio are graphically… humdrum. And that’s being polite. Whilst we know that it is what is inside the bottle that truly matters, in retail people do tend to buy with their eyes. I am afraid that I used to snort derisively, if, when presenting a wine, a customer drew attention to the infelicitous/clunky label. Summoning the bible and Shakespeare in no particular order: good wine needs no bush; all that glisters is not gold etc. even drawing on Prome ..read more

Thanks be to cob! Craig & Carla Hawkins and family live in Bandits Kloof, Eendekuilthe in the back and beyond of Swartland. It is a beautiful location, ringed by mountains and fairly close to the ocean. Here Craig makes his El Bandito and Baby Bandito wines, all of which have proved to be massively successful and are sold into many countries throughout the world. Mielie Green is an exclusive label for Les Caves, a new wine from 4-ha block of Chenin vines on the sandstone soils of the Piketberg foothills on the road to Redelinghuys. Planted in 1961, these are dryland bush vines (un-trellis ..read more

We are delighted to announce that we are selling the English translation of ‘Calicata, Gredos as Terroir’,  a collaboration between Comando G and other local growers as well as journalists, writers and terroir experts. A detailed consideration of the mountainous Gredos region west of Madrid – its history; terroir; specific single vineyards; growers; local characters and culture, this book is at the same time a love letter to a unique and historic wine area that has been truly reborn and whose wines are now capturing the hearts and minds of critics and consumers alike. Calicata is a story ..read more

The Antadze Winery was founded by Nikoloz (Niki) Antadze in 2006. A former nightclub owner and a gentle and reflective soul, Niki owns 3-hectares of vineyards in the Manavi micro zone of Kakheti region. Wine is made from organic vineyards and according to the traditional Georgian qvevri methods. Niki works with three indigenous varieties – Rkatsiteli, Mtsvane Kakhuri and Saperavi. Since the 17th century up until the Soviet era, when possessions were expropriated, Niki’s family owned vineyards and pieces of land in this region of Kakheti (Manavi and Tokhliauri). In 2006, he purchased a small pa ..read more