The Wine Demystifier

As a precursor to the release of the next Wine Demystifier Wine Club case, which will feature ‘Wine Blends’, I have put together a 101 on 'Blends', by which I mean a blend of more than one variety as opposed to the blending of different vats and barrels of the same grape variety - which incidentally is almost always done! Undoubtedly there are many terrific wines made from single varieties, but why are many of the wine world’s most…

A customer recently asked about Decanting ‘rules’ so I’ve put together a few pointers which I hope will be useful, I’ve also added some general guidelines on serving temperatures too.Decanting has two main purposes: Firstly, it allows the wine to ‘breathe’ – it is this brush with oxygen that helps release many of the aroma/flavours within the wine as well as softening the tannins – this is why, quite often by the time you get to the final glass,…

I know from experience as you peruse the aisles in the local supermarket or wine merchant shelf, the eye invariably goes to a few things when you hunt for your next bottle of wine: the price, the label (who doesn't love a critter label?!) and last-but-not-least those shiny ‘award’ badges that sometimes adorn the front of the wine bottle. Although seeing that a wine has “won” an award can give you a feeling of security – that the wine…

It is always a matter of conjecture when planning the wines for your Christmas festivities – I am always tasked with the job by my dad and have to take into account some of the family aren’t big sparkling drinkers, another doesn’t like white wine so trying to get something that suits everyone is often an impossible task.So use the below loosely - as suggestions if nothing else - as to which of your bottles to open and when:Seafood…

Having had the ‘pleasure’ and I use the term very loosely, of tasting a wide range of low and no alcohol wines when I was doing my wine exams, I can, hand on heart say ‘alcohol free’(<0.05% ABV) and ‘low’ alcohol wines (1.2% ABV and under) are not (in my opinion at least) very good!  The problem is, take out the alcohol and you leave something of a gaping hole in the wine - it is unbalanced, lacks body…