We have put together our own personal guide to Rioja wine – enjoy! Rioja (Ree-ock-a) has deservedly the greatest reputation of all Spanish wines. It is not so long ago that the British consumer was offered little more than Spanish Burgundy, Spanish Chablis and Spanish Champagne. Since the restoration of the monarchy and Spain’s joining …
Blind Wine Tasting Here is a collection of our tips and tricks for becoming a pro at blind wine tastings. I have some friends who try to test me by producing at the supper table a wine in a decanter and saying, “Now tell me what this is.” I must admit from the start that …
One of the few good things to have come out of the pandemic is that mail order sales of wine have increased considerably. Normally this will mean that you end up buying wine by the case and need somewhere to store it. It wasn’t so long ago that some research was carried out in the …
Where to store wine at home (if you don’t have a wine cellar!) Read More »
Restaurant wine lists can be intimidating at all sorts of levels, particularly to someone who isn’t used to eating out, or who might be acting as the host for the first time. Fear not, because confidence can come with experience and wider knowledge about wine. There are plenty of basic wine courses now available to …
The traditional advice is that you should serve your white wines chilled and your. red wines at room temperature. Unfortunately, that’s not all there is to it. Carry on reading to hear our wine storage temperature advice. Let’s consider red wines first. What temperature should you serve red wine at? As it happens, I have …
To say that the South African wine industry has undergone a quality revolution in the last decade is no exaggeration. Current economic challenges due partly to the pandemic aside, it’s a very exciting time to explore South African wine. Our support of South African wine is needed now more than ever, after South Africa faced …
Here’s some good news: it has recently been announced that two of the largest producers of corks have discovered how to guarantee ‘no taint’ corks for customers… and at no extra cost. The issue with corking wine The problem had been that micro-organisms in the veins in the cork could give an unpleasant taste to …
Gone are the days when a slippery slope of rules and regulations about wine and food pairing appeared hopelessly impossible to navigate. We’ve come to realise that experimentation is far more progressive with so many possible pairings to explore. And when it comes to wine & food pairing, personal preferences are what really matters. There …
It’s not only wine bottle sizes that vary. Over the years wine has come to the consumer in all sorts of containers: amphoras, casks, bottles, bags-in-boxes and now cans, but since the second half of the seventeenth century, when the production of glass bottles was greatly improved, they have been the vessel of preference. Originally, …
Everything you need to know about wine bottle sizes Read More »
Over the past few years there have been many changes in the world of wine; not just in the wines that we drink, but also in the glasses we drink them from. The Paris goblet, which, for long, was ubiquitous in bars and restaurants, has now largely disappeared. Each wine region had, at one time, …
Everything you need to know about wine glasses and decanters Read More »
