Len Evans, the Australian wine guru, who popped his clogs just last month aged 76, duly (and rightly) received obits from many people, yet none got close to portraying the amateur sculptor, demagogue, furious male ego and actor that I met in 2002.
Read more...Sicily's wine industry has been transformed in the past 20 years, but has it changed for the better, ask Nicolas Belfrage MW and Franco Ziliani
Read more...Welcome to South Africa, a place of great natural beauty, still teeming with unique and exciting wildlife in places, and home to the Cape Floral Kingdom, the smallest and richest of the earth's six great floral kingdoms.
At the time of going to press (Wednesday, 30 August due to bank holiday) - I hate using that expression because it means the story may well be out of date by the time you read this, thus instead of appearing knowledgeable and ahead of the game, I look stupid (only slightly, I hope) and out of date.
Read more...We had such an overwhelming response to our request for comments about and tributes to Len Evans, who died last week, that we decided to hold over another feature and give over two and a half pages to this pioneer and pillar of the modern-day Australian wine industry.
Read more...The full unabridged version of the Australian Wine Research Institute's rebuttal of Paul White's feature, 'Scientifically speaking', which appeared in Harpers' Closures supplement in December 2005.
Read more...Earlier this summer, there was a glimmer of hope that alcohol-related issues were slipping down the government's agenda. After the relative non-event of the World Cup (in both alcohol-related disorder and sporting terms), ministers seemed to be looking elsewhere for policy initiatives. The Home Office, in particular, became introspective as it set out to prove itself fit for purpose'.
Read more...I'm a bad salesman,' announced Nol Pinguet, Gaston Huet's son-in-law, who has been in charge of the great Vouvray estate for the past 30 years.
Read more...Those wine writers who failed to respond to the invitation from the Ambassador of Luxembourg to attend a tasting of his country's wines at his house in Wilton Crescent this past June missed the most entertaining event of its kind
so far this year.
When was the last time you sold a bottle of Australian fortified wine? Or the last time you treated yourself to a cheeky glass of luscious Rutherglen Muscat at the end of a fine restaurant meal? When, for that matter, was the last time you saw an Australian fortified being offered by the glass at your favourite restaurant?
Read more...THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
A new column from SUSY ATKINS talks up the virtues of New World Riesling. Don't be distracted by the endless bottles of Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc from these parts of the world - dig around in the antipodean section of the
wine shelves, and you should unearth a few distinctively tall, screw-capped bottles made from Riesling.' The alcohol level tends to be lower and they age well, she reports, although the price tag is less of a bonus. Her personal favourites include 2004/5 Leasingham Magnus Riesling, Clare Valley, Australia (7.49; Sainsbury's).
With regard to the articles on the Middle East conflict
(28 July 2006), I want to point out that it was not my intention to equate the Hezbollah with the Lebanese people - some of whom are friends of mine.
The Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) has serious concerns regarding the article titled Scientifically Speaking which was published in the Harpers Closures Supplement in December 2005. In this unabridged letter, Professor Sakkie Pretorius, AWRI managing director explains why.
Read more...Jefford drools over Argentine Malbec; MacQuitty feels gamey; Atkin meets the last of the Mohicans' in Rioja; Goode looks at lower-alcohol wines; and Ehrlich and Simon discuss cynical pricing. Christian Davis reviews the reviews
Read more...Location, location, location
I thought Tom Stevenson's comment about how interesting it is that people's views on London wine tasting venues differ so much (Challenged', Harpers 21 April) neatly summed up the difficulty venues have in convincing prospective clients that their place could be the ideal location for an event
What is happening in the Middle East doesn't bear thinking about.
Read more...Moore extols the virtues of English wines; Rose recommends Roussillon; and Atkin, the wine trade's poet laureate, waxes lyrical on Elizabeth Bennett Browning. Meanwhile MacQuitty says Old and New World wines are just different'.
Christian Davis reviews the reviews
New Zealanders have to endure being mistaken for their trans-Tasman neighbours with regular monotony. Yes, there's that antipodean twang, which as a new Kiwi I must admit to having confused myself. And the country does admittedly share numerous characteristics with Australia. However, those making the effort to take a closer look at the country's politics, climate, geography and indeed its wine industry, should detect some very different dynamics.
Read more...Neil Beckett makes his way to The Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, where he finds a list rather less eccentric than the food for which the restaurant is so famous, yet worthy of a three-Michelin-starred restaurant anywhere in the world.
Read more...Professor Sakkie Pretorius says:
In this letter I do not intend to enter into a detailed critical review of the article. Rather, this response addresses passages from the article that are factually incorrect, or which use incomplete AWRI data which, used in that way, are misleading, or which misrepresent the AWRI's position on various issues. Additionally, some areas that we regard as scientifically unsound for an article that purports to be a review of the science of wine closures are also addressed.
