Remarkable tasting today, titled ‘Landmark Australia’, held by Wine Australia at Australia House in the Strand. Despite an come across with a doorman who lacked any public skills whatsoever (I was strongly ticked off for being early), it was a great event. The notion was to showcase Australia’s ‘pro…

Intense color of opaque cherry w/scant remnants of purple youth.Bouquet has prominent tart raspberry aromas with plum and cocoa highlights with a bit of spice in the nose.White pepper is first impression with steely mid-palate with really chewy tannins that are dry as dust. Needs to breathe and rel…

So I’m sitting here in the cafe in Lake Wobegon, thinking about the last doll I took out, or rather how she took me. It’s depressing, so I turned to my other love - Pinot Noir!”Hey, Guy, why didn’t you tell me your last name was Noir.”"Listen Pinot, I have abundant trouble as it is. “”Yeah, you do! …

Three more Bordeaux wines from the 2005 vintage. Solidly made and good value for money, I reckon - at least, by the usual Bordeaux standards.Dourthe No 1 2005 BordeauxThis well known grade is a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, put together by none other than M. Rolland. It’s classic Bordeaux:…

Mike Steinberger, a US wine writer who I rate highly, has just written a piece for the excellent World of Fine Wine titled ‘Everyone a critic: the future of wine writing’. It’s a good commentary, and for the instance being at least is available as a free pdf on the WOFW website. Whaddya think?Origin…

The Evil Twin didn’t have a ghost of a chance of stopping the Bully from making “Ghost of 413.” Winemakers Chris Gorman and Mark Ryan collaborated to create that beauty. Chris has a rare way of ageing wine, never mind the oak barrels, just roll out the barrels and bring in the rock band Ska. After o…

Cheap Bordeaux can be nasty. While the top wines, from the finest terroirs, are sought after by collectors and command increasingly high prices, the rest – and the majority – of Bordeaux vineyards struggle in the contemporary marketplace, which is increasingly fussy about quality. The problem is…

Time flies! The rest of Woodinville Passport is coming soon. GeneOriginal post by SeattleWineBlog

A full day of tasting today - the final day of the universal Wine Challenge (although there’s a further trophy tasting day next week). Once again, I was with a fun, competent team of tasters. We worked hard, and were the last to finish - an additional flight of Sicilian reds had been found hiding be…

Another day’s tasting at the universal Wine Challenge. After a short day on Tuesday where we were finished mid-afternoon, the last two days have been quite hard work - we’ve been going full throttle until 4.30 pm. I know it sounds a bit effete when you explain to society that you’ve been tasting win…