.
.
Nobel, commercial, international or mainstream, call them what you will, but ‘high street’ grape varieties are invading our wine lists and our wine isles. Sauvignon Bland, Merlot-so-so and Pinot Grigio-no can leave an uninspired taste in your mouth. So is our wine choice suffering from an attack of the clones? ………
Posts Tagged ‘White wine’
Attack of the clones….
Sunday, June 16th, 2013
Reassuringly expensive vs suspiciously cheap….
Wednesday, October 31st, 2012
Where’s the line between good value and suspiciously cheap? These are two questions I wish I’d asked myself in detail before handing over money to the builders we’ve employed to refit our bathroom. Of the quotes we got it was hard not to be lured by the most affordable, especially when they came recommended by friends. Now in week three of a one week job we’re still without a bathroom and I can’t help thinking Mr B and I have been screwed. ………
Follow the yellow brick road….
Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012
.Naked Wines’ democratic approach to buying has just blown some pretty standard wine stereotypes out of the water! Amongst a room of around 30 tasters, only 3 of which were women, we tasted through 52 Australian wines from producers looking to break into the UK market and were tasked with whittling it down to one. Given the circumstances (mainly men & Australian wines) you’ll be forgiven for assuming the winning wine would be red. But Australia’s come miles since the days of over oaked, sugary Chardonnay and this tasting proved the UK wine drinking public is prepared to reopen its eyes to Australian whites. The winning wine? The delicious Sidewood Sauvignon Blanc 2012 from the Adelaide Hills.
. ………
We’re on the case with Oddbins…. literally!
Wednesday, July 4th, 2012
.
For an ancient trade like wine, genuine firsts are now few and far between. In the wine headlines lately there’s been the launch of the world’s first paper wine bottle, a failed en primeur campaign for an otherwise good quality vintage – a first for Bordeaux, the rise of the enomatic wine sampling machine and the unstoppable popularity of English wines, something the old-school-wine-boys thought they’d never live to see.
For an ancient trade like wine, genuine firsts are now few and far between. In the wine headlines lately there’s been the launch of the world’s first paper wine bottle, a failed en primeur campaign for an otherwise good quality vintage – a first for Bordeaux, the rise of the enomatic wine sampling machine and the unstoppable popularity of English wines, something the old-school-wine-boys thought they’d never live to see..
As with so much to do with wine, the level of interest in the above is of course subjective, but I’d like to add my contribution to the list of new wine initiatives by announcing what we believe to be the first wine collaboration of its kind in the UK – the Oddbins Wine Bloggers case. Invited as one of six of Oddbins’ favourite UK wine bloggers (more subjectivity, I know!) we were given free reign to taste our way through their cellar and select our favourite picks for an exclusive twelve bottle case. The result? “Twelve fantastic wines straight from Oddbins’ shelves independently chosen by six of the most talented wine writers in the business.”Ok, so Oddbins wrote that bit…. ………
This post comes with a health warning….
Monday, June 25th, 2012
Recently I went on a hen party of a different kind. Out of maybe 15 girls there, most were either pregnant, had just had a baby or were actively trying to start a family. As such the booze wasn’t flowing in usual hen party fashion, with the exception of the hen herself who like a goose on a foie-gras farm was force-fed everything that others were abstaining from.
Last week when it was announced in one of the daily London freebies that ‘Pregnant women can binge drink safely’ it made me think of all the hens from that weekend and the hovering hands over glasses. Could they’ve let their hair down after all? The very next day in an online piece published in Australia we were told categorically that the answer was no and that “drinking any alcohol can harm your unborn baby”. With such opposite messages hitting the headlines what are pregnant women supposed to do? Do a google search on the subject and you’re lead into an abyss of contradictions to make your head spin. From the scaremongering to the abstract…. my favourite piece advised that drinking wine whilst pregnant was bad but drinking champagne was fine…. The mind boggles! ………
Drink Wine and Carry On….
Friday, June 8th, 2012
As the bunting comes down post-Jubilee I’m left with the same feeling of sadness and deflation I had two days after my wedding. The build up to the event, the outfits, the planning, the decorations now all gone and normality has replaced what was once excitement and anticipation.
Like the odd piece of confetti you uncover months after your big day I wonder where the last Union Jack will be left flying? If I wasn’t trying to move house I’d happily leave ours up until the end of the Olympics but in an uncharacteristically organised move Mr B has already got rid of it…..! It was an awesome weekend but on reflection I can’t decide whether it was the Queen herself, the sheer number of Union Jacks or the extra long weekend that moved me most. Luckily though my post celebration deflation doesn’t have to kick in yet as coincidently this week also happens to be English Wine Week!
Sales of English sparkling wine soared over the Jubilee celebrations, of course we can’t be sure whether it was Queenie or The Apprentice that can take the credit. ………
