This Week’s Decent Drinking I make no apologies for making this week’s WOTW a wine you are unlikely to be unable to buy. The 2000 John Wade Cabernet Sauvigon/Merlot/Cabernet Franc I opened tonight I picked up at the vineyard on a visit to Denmark and Albany, at the bottom end of Western Australia in 2002. ...
Travel, Wine & DrinkI’ve recently had a chance to play with Le Nez du Vin’s amazing wine aromas and faults kits. Le Nez du Vin is said to help develop your sense of smell and your ability to recognise and describe the aromas of wine. The top-of-the range kit comprises 54 aromas of liquid in small glass bottles, ...
Books & EquipmentWent a-judging-oh in Portugal last week. Vina Essencia is a big wine expo held in Porto’s Palacio da Borsa. The judging was held in the Arabian Room on the top floor, beautifully restored to its former glory. Tasting conditions were pretty good, about 20 of us, grouped in pairs, plenty of elbow room and glasses ...
BLOG, Wine & DrinkIn judging wines by using the senses, people are handicapped by the way they assess other commodities. For instance, some judge a car by colour alone. Gas guzzling proclivity or lack of headroom may be overlooked if the paint job is considered attractive. Sometimes it’s the same with wine; if looks attractive and exhibits no ...
BLOG, Wine & DrinkNapoleon said “Every soldier carries a marshal’s baton in his knapsack.” Not that I was ever a military man but if I was he’d have found a cook’s knife and a corkscrew in mine. I started cooking at an early age. I was a ‘latchkey kid’, though the term had not then been invented. My ...
Wine & DrinkMy friend and fellow food and drink fanatic Paulo Tullio once observed over dinner “You know, Ernie, there’s nothing so boring as reading what someone else ate last night”, one reason why as a critic I try and give readers a little ‘value added’; though maybe not as much as the Sunday Times’ A.A.Gill who ...
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