Today is an annual event that forms one of the highlights of the vinous calendar: the Good Bishop Gill’s gathering of his clergy, an intimate party of friends from the trade, to pray and lunch downstairs in the cloisters of The Arches. The only rule is that you write off the rest of the day [...]
Filed under: bordeaux, burgundy, london tastings | Tagged: croatian white, drc, good bishop gill, ponsot, the arches | Leave a Comment »
Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain…and temperatures that belong to Russian tundra. Despite the endless soul-destroying inclemency, this morning I catch the early and thereby extortionately-priced train into the über-cool East End of London for the first of today’s Sassicaia verticals. As usual I arrive on time, only to find that attendees, mostly sommeliers, saunter in over the next 45 minutes. [...]
Filed under: london tastings | Tagged: robert weil, sassicaia, sebastiano rosa, tenuta san guido | Leave a Comment »
Today is a tasting that you will be stupid to miss (I have missed it twice by the way) – the annual Domaine de la Romanée-Conti tasting hosted by UK agents Corney & Barrow. I arrive early, take my comfy chair in the corner and like a king beckoning his subjects, spend the morning tasting [...]
Filed under: burgundy | Tagged: 2007, burgundy, drc | 1 Comment »
The Martin family have decided that after three years of renting, it is time to clamber back on to the greasy property ladder. We look at a couple of houses, a semi-detached rich in period features but short on space, deceptively furnished in such a way to dupe unsuspecting buyers into making an over-priced offer, [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: guildford, house move | Leave a Comment »
Many years ago today, a bright shining star shone above Rochford Hospital Maternity Unit, and I entered this world. I know, I should have been the Second Messiah, but I chose to be a wine writer instead. Being the Saviour of mankind will have to wait. I wake up crumpled on the sofa, upon which [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: birthday, kfc | Leave a Comment »
Chained to the Mac all day, trying to catch up with life that had to be postponed after the flurry of tastings throughout January. I finish off an article on Philipponnat’s celebrated champagne: Clos des Goisses and type up tasting notes from Domaine Leroy from last November. I pop into town to drop off my suit [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: clos des goisses, dry cleaners, jetlag | 1 Comment »
My metabolism is protesting about recent fluctuations in temperature: 35 degrees in Central Otago, -4 in central Guildford. I walk Lily to school and suffer the first symptoms of hypothermia by the time I escort her into class. Lily herself has to be thawed out next to the radiator, her red Hello Kitty bobble hat (with [...]
Filed under: lily & daisy | Tagged: jetlag, lily school, stevie nicks | Leave a Comment »
I good 4-hour power sleep, crappy Intercontinental breakfast, settle the bill, bid good-byes and then catch a taxi to Wellington Airport. Before catching my flight, I load up on ludicrously expensive, yet ludicrously comfortable “Icebreaker” t-shirts and jim-jams for the family. From Queenstown, straight to Gibbston Valley for a 76-wine blind tasting of recent releases [...]
Filed under: new zealand | Tagged: central otago, fergburger, new zealand, pinot noir 2010, queenstown, ronan keating, sam neill, villa maria | Leave a Comment »
The second day of the Conference. Downstairs at the Intercontinental Hotel, I suffer the second horrendous excuse of a breakfast: egg yolk glued to unwashed plates, spicy sausages from anything but a pig, stale baked beans and gristle with a hint of bacon. Even my coffee is poured by a surly waiter, miffed at being [...]
Filed under: new zealand | Tagged: gala dinner, leslie sbrocco, new zealand, oz clarke, pinot conference 2010, sauvignon blanc, wellington | Leave a Comment »
The second week of New Zealand begins in Martinborough. This Monday morning, I am due to be taken into the air so that I can take some aerial shots of the vineyards, but alas the clouds conspire to keep my feet firmly on the ground and so I spend the morning catching up on e-mails [...]
Filed under: new zealand | Tagged: new zealand, pinot noir conference 2010, the matterhorn | Leave a Comment »
