2020: there is so much I could say about the year itself, most of it revolving around desperation, sunshine, looking into the abyss, golf with Frenchie, Big Phil and Lubes, and – finally – redemption.  A proper rollercoaster, which found me in April 2021 tasting cask samples of 2020 Bordeaux in a rather nice garden in Wandsworth. Said cask samples had been expertly shipped from Bordeaux.  The Bordelais had done remote EP tasting already with their 2019s and this time they had the logistics nailed.  Though I was never quite sure of the quality of the samples themselves, largely o ..read more

2019 seems a lifetime ago.  The world was different.  Europe was different.  I was different. More pertinently, the 2019 Bordeaux vintage is/was one that I was almost totally unfamiliar with until a year or so ago, and one that I was not totally up on until a few days ago.  My only experience of the vintage around EP time in 2020 was a few stolen spare samples offered to me by a pal who knew I’d be interested.  I liked what I tasted, and that was about it until the wines started to arrive in the UK – a slow stream of bottles opened in the office almost always impressed ..read more

Was my take on 2010 Bordeaux from bottle, posted on March 28th 2020, two days after lockdown measures legally came into force in the UK. The tasting it covered took place on the 12th and 13th February when, I believe, we had little or no idea just what was in the pipe. Reading it through I reckon it it’s a good piece. It’s also clearly written by, well: if not a different person, certainly a different me. Lockdowns and similar may well have led to more alcohol; they also led to less tasting, less dining, less inspiration. This is the chief reason for radio silence. The further reasons for radi ..read more

2019 seems a lifetime ago.  The world was different.  Europe was different.  I was different. More pertinently, the 2019 Bordeaux vintage is/was one that I was almost totally unfamiliar with until a year or so ago, and one that I was not totally up on until a few days ago.  My only experience of the vintage around EP time in 2020 was a few stolen spare samples offered to me by a pal who knew I’d be interested.  I liked what I tasted, and that was about it until the wines started to arrive in the UK – a slow stream of bottles opened in the office almost always impressed ..read more

Was my take on 2010 Bordeaux from bottle, posted on March 28th 2020, two days after lockdown measures legally came into force in the UK. The tasting it covered took place on the 12th and 13th February when, I believe, we had little or no idea just what was in the pipe. Reading it through I reckon it it’s a good piece. It’s also clearly written by, well: if not a different person, certainly a different me. Lockdowns and similar may well have led to more alcohol; they also led to less tasting, less dining, less inspiration. This is the chief reason for radio silence. The further reasons for radi ..read more

In 2011, a wine writer by the name of John Gilman published his review of the 2010 Bordeaux vintage.  He titled it: “The Very, Very Ripe, Very, Very, Very Tannic 2010 Vintage In Bordeaux-Miraculously, Some Great Wines Found Alive On the Battlefield”. Mr Gilman wasn’t quite on the same page as anyone else on the subject of the 2010 vintage.  Mr Parker, at the peak of his power and influence, wrote a bit more positively: “it is an inescapable truth that 2010 has produced another year of compelling Bordeaux that will go down as a prodigious vintage alongside 2009.” Unsurprisingly, the merchants p ..read more

So: what makes a great vintage?  A trickier question than you might think.  Which is why it was all so much easier when Big Bob was around.  Because – let’s be honest here: even if it’s not actually the right answer, an answer that we can all agree on is generally one that we can all accept. I count the great vintages of the 21st century as being 2005, 2009 and 2010.  Probably in that order (I prefer the Savile Row cut of 2005 to the courtesan ripeness of 2009 and 2010, whilst absolutely stellar at the top end, can get a bit cut and shut further down).  The nearly vintages are 2015 and 2014 (I ..read more

Late last November I joined the very nice chaps at Farr Vintners to taste the wines of Jean-Marie Guffens. Jean-Marie has two labels: Domaine Guffens-Heynen and Maison Verget, and, whilst I’ve never really known the wines well, I’ve been impressed enough by the occasional blind bottle served by Mr B., and by an excellent bottle of 2014 Macon Pierreclos at the equally excellent Lorne, to come along. That Jean-Marie has a reputation for being a bit of a nutter was the gravy. I’ve long had this theory about the wines of the Maconnais, one that is totally based on my own prejudice, and this is rou ..read more

A few things about Thomas Parker.  He is the youngest MW there is.  He is one of the most demon tasters I have met.  He’s a Palace fan. I’ve known TP for a fair few years.  We share a deep interest in wine, and a deep passion for the mighty Crystal Palace.  And my lord can he taste.  At a 1989 dinner a few years ago I witnessed him nail Riesling Rangen de Thann, Zind-Humbrecht blind.  We knew the vintage (though I think I may have been a bit thick myself) but region, variety, vineyard and grower is a pretty tall order.  And I think that I was saying stuff about it being Condrieu, but that’s an ..read more