Exclamations of ¡Un vinazo! resounded into the evening at last week’s third annual edition of the ‘The Best of Rioja’ tasting held in London (9 March), with on-trend Rioja blanco stealing much of the limelight.
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One of the more fascinating presentations on wine took place in late February in London, when the partners in an inventive Italian wine project began their international promotion of what was billed as ‘Cultivating History’. The setting was the Italian Cultural Institute (ICI) in Belgrave Square, and the cultivation in question was the planting of vines within the boundaries of the Pompeii Archaeological Park for The Pompeii Wine Project. And the aim of this ambitious initiative is – in the words of the Project organisers – ‘to revive the historical role of wine as an ambassador of civilization’.
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With new UK distribution in place via Seckford Agencies (off-trade) and Ellis Wines (on-trade), Jason Millar takes a closer look at what winemaker Luke O’Cuinneagain (pictured) is bringing to a revitalised Vergelegen.
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Wine on tap, pet nat, low intervention Torrontes, Picpoul Noir, £100+ Cooperative Champagne, naturally lower alcohol and artily labelled wines, plus a Russian-born oenologist out of Attica in Greece were among the many highlights and innovations on show at a recent tasting in Brighton.
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This year’s Koshu of Japan (KOJ) tasting at Japan House, which brought together some 100 or more trade and press for a tasting of the nine collaborating wineries last week, marked a further advance of these wines’ delicate footprint in the UK market.
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Has Greece reached a tipping point in the UK? Certainly, the many producers at Maltby&Greek’s annual showcase tasting in London were hopeful that this is the case, with the hard graft and shoe leather that both they and their importer have put in over the last decade now seemingly paying off.
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David Furer reflects on the often overlooked but increasingly impressive wines from Tuscany’s more affordable rival, the Romagna DOC and its 16 sub-zones.
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This mountainous former Soviet republic in the south Caucasus has long traditions of Christianity and hospitality, and an ancient wine culture that dates back Millenia. It also has outstanding territorial issues and has recently endured conflict and has a large neighbour with whom it has a history of bad relations. The country is modernising but also grappling with corruption, bureaucracy and cronyism. Its shrinking population is mitigated to some degree by returning former emigres, who are active in a revitalising a wine industry where traditions and indigenous grape varieties are being rediscovered, with winemakers aiming for wines that appeal to a modern palate rather than a typical Russian one.
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Portuguese winemaker Luis Cerdeira has left his family’s renowned Soalheiro wine company to establish a new Vinho Verde wine project with his son Manuel, a Plumpton College graduate.
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Following the launch of Jable de Tao’s first artisanal wines, Barnaby Eales charts the progress being made to protect the hoyos-grown vine legacy of La Geria, asking if enough is being done to secure their future.
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The launch of a smartly-packaged £395 English sparkling wine may show quite some chutzpah, but as James Lawrence reports, it’s not alone in helping nudge the category into triple figure pricing.
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Rowena Curlewis, head of design agency Denomination, extols the virtues of disruptive branding in a crowded wine and spirits world.
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Barnaby Eales uncovers some exceptional contemporary wines in an unexpected corner of France.
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Chiaretto for Christmas? Sadly, despite more and more people drinking pink all year round, Italy’s bestselling Rosado Chiaretto di Bardolino didn’t grace many British dinner tables last December and won’t at Easter. A quick Google suggests some retailers stock it – Fortnums has two – but most main supermarkets and even The Wine Society draw a blank, suggesting the limited inroads it has made here. Which is frankly rather surprising, given the history of this wine, and the increasing popularity of the rather similar Provence rosé.
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Wine Talk’s Sarah McCleery meets a new grape with ‘star performer’ credentials while travelling in Sardinia
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Blind Ambition is a documentary film that follows the journeys of four Zimbabwean migrants who separately discover wine in South Africa before joining forces to compete at the World Blind Tasting Championships in Burgundy.
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As a Senior Reporter for Harpers, I am required to know a thing or two about wine. This was made clear when I was appointed three months ago, after three years of working as a general news reporter for numerous titles.
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From the second you taste that first sip of alcohol, whether it be a frothy pint during freshers week or a glass of wine at a family dinner, a lifelong balancing act has begun.
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Hugh Jones fell into the drinks industry 14 years ago while trying to become a rock star and never left, learning his trade at Majestic Wine, Pernod Ricard, and Mentzendorff. After a locked-down winter teaching strangers how to make cocktails over Zoom, he is now sales manager at Colwith Farm Distillery.
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If Bordeaux declares another 'vintage of the century' in 2021, then eyes will undoubtedly roll.
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