The Wine Demystifier

The letter “K” proved slightly problematic, but then I remembered, a while back when I was working for a major wine merchant who had just taken on an Israeli producer, it was while doing the marketing for those wines that the question of 'Kosher' came up. To anyone of a certain age, the very mention of Kosher wine would invariably be met by a shudder as they were almost always considered utterly awful.  But times have changed, and things…

If I asked a selection of people to name three French regions. I would bet my house that none would mention Jura. To be honest, until I started studying wine, I had never heard of it either!  But Jura is a really intriguing and much overlooked region with a wine style very much of its own. About the region This small region is located at the eastern extreme of France, in the mountainous region between Burgundy and the Swiss…

Ok I admit, as I write this in glorious spring sunshine, the thought of frozen vines and Christmas, which is what usually comes to mind when I think of Icewine, does seem (thankfully) a long way away. I bet it’s fair to assume that many of you haven’t ever tried Icewine?  More’s the pity, for this is arguably my favourite dessert wine and I don’t just wait for Christmas, any special occasion will do, and why only special occasions? …

Hungary has a surprisingly long wine history, with a winemaking pedigree going back to the 1600’s and is home to a distinctive array of indigenous grapes coupled with more familiar international varieties. If pressed, some of you may mumble “Tokaji” if asked to name a Hungarian wine, many of you may not even be aware that this legendary wine actually comes from Hungary.  Don’t worry, you are not alone, this is a wine which has taken on almost mythical…

One of many grape varieties with a hard to pronounce name (you will meet more during the remainder of this A-Z!).  Pronounced “Guh-VERTZ-tra-mean-er” I tend to just call it “Gewürz” it’s easier. I think of this grape as being like marmite – now obviously it doesn’t taste like marmite, (that would be horrific in a wine!), but it does divide consumers just as much - quite literally some love it and others hate it.  I am very firmly in…