A very successful first day of the World Sauvignon Congress, held here in sunny Graz. 250 delegates are attending, representing 30 different countries. The proceedings began with an hour’s opening ceremony, which restricted several speeches, as well as some country dancing and a performance by a fol…

Arrived in Graz that afternoon for the Sauvignon Congress. I’m staying at a wonderful traditional hotel in the old town, Erzherzog Johann, which is in the best part of a small city that just falls short of being beautiful (although it has a lovely laid back feel to it). Conference sessions start tom…

Arrived in Graz that afternoon for the Sauvignon Congress. I’m staying at a wonderful traditional hotel in the old town, Erzherzog Johann, which is the best part of a small city that just falls short of being beautiful. Conference sessions start tomorrow, but that evening there was a reception and d…

irqjdOn the hunt for 05 Bordeaux bargains I grabbed that thinking it was probably a “second” label of the big (and expensive) Chateau named “Cheval Blanc.”I paid $12 for it and it is a pretty garnet/cranberry jam colored wine with bright fruit bouquet of nice fresh cherry and berry under layer with …

Black cherry hue with big nose of inky ripe black cherry fruit and plum with dark chocolate.Palate has nice flavors of black berry and baker’s chocolate. Was better two days after I opened it and paired well with rib eye steak on the grill. I paid about $8 for that wine on sale and it was a decent…

In the wee hours I leave for Austria. More specifically, Graz, for the World Sauvignon Congress, where I have to sing for my supper by moderating a session on clones.

I’m looking forward to it: I’ll learn a lot, and Styria in August should be very pleasant. I’ll let you know how I get on.

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I get quite a lot of queries on how to buy my book Wine Science. In the UK, that book was published by Mitchell Beazley in November 2005. It sold pretty well, and the initial print run all disappeared. Will they reprint it? Probably not, was the reply I got. They aren’t very good at responding to em…

Two recent reads that I’d recommend.Douglas Coupland’s JPod (see website http://www.jpod.info/ or the book on amazon) is a very funny, astute sort of book. It’s a creative, humorous satirical and deeply ironic look at the current hi-tech generation, and it is nearly perfectly judged. I read it in th…

Verdejo (grape variety) from Rueda (wine region): one of Spain’s relatively few contributions to the genre of serious white wine. that is a really good one, as transparent as a haunting cataract on a sunny April day.Naia Verdejo 2007 Rueda, SpainCrisp, minerally, complex and elegant, with an aromati…

Devon update. After unremitting rain, the last two days have seen the reluctant appearance of the sun. It has been lovely. We’ve been to the burrows a lot, for towering walks with lots of running up and down sand dunes. Today we lunched on the beach, and our pasties were washed down with two very ni…