Wine sales, consultancy and education
Following on from a recent post on Chardonnay I thought it might be useful to do a quick overview of the classification system of Burgundy. As I touched on previously, the French do have a rather unhelpful way of labelling by appellation as opposed to grape variety which can make things rather confusing if you are not familiar with them. As a rule of thumb a red Burgundy is Pinot Noir and a white Burgundy is Chardonnay with Gamay…
In a bit of a departure from my usual blogs, today I want to talk about a recent trip to Hungary and a fantastic little wine bar visited in Budapest called The Tasting Table Hungarian wine is undergoing something of a resurgence in the UK following LIDL’s decision to stock a range of Hungarian wines yet many people still when asked what they know of Hungarian wine will often hesitate before tentatively saying “Tokaji”? The truth is there is…
You may never have heard of it, but Gattinara is, like it’s more famous neighbours Barolo and Barbaresco, another Piedmont DOCG for the Nebbiolo grape. Don’t be misled by the colour or nose: pale ruby in appearance and with a delicate quite floral aroma of rose and violets alongside black fruits (cherry and plum), for this belies the tannic power of the grape. On the palate this is dry with a fullish body, high in both alcohol and acidity,…
Ok, I probably ought to point out first up that I used to be a fully paid up member of the ‘ABC’ (Anything but Chardonnay) Club. Why? Chardonnay (particularly New World Chardonnay) had by the 1990's become a victim of its own success: the fashion being for rich, ripe and over-oaked wines and perhaps unfortunately for me, this was the era of my first exposure to the ‘wonders’ of chardonnay and I shall use the term loosely in these…