There are certain words that pop up in my day to day work and I always assume that I know what they mean. Sometimes these words are rather specific to the wine world. One such expression is 'phenolic ripeness'. A phenol is an aromatic organic compound with the molecular formula C6H5OH. According to the [...]
Penfolds buys a Chateau! Treasury Wine Estates(TWE) announced yesterday that they have just bought Chateau Cambon la Pelouse in the Medoc region of Bordeaux.This is the first acquisition in France for one of the largest premium wine producers in Australia, New Zealand and America. TWE used to be the wine division of Foster's beer. [...]
We have already explored what the term 'Grand Cru' means in Bordeaux and Burgundy. But what does 'Grand Cru' mean in Champagne?The term 'Grand Cru' is totally different in Champagne, as it refers to the village rather than the specific vineyard (like Burgundy) or the specific estate name (like Bordeaux).There are currently 17 villages in Champagne that are [...]
Last week I spent two fascinating days in London tasting and reviewing the top Bordeaux wines from the 2009 vintage. This was the '10 years on' tasting at Farr Vintners in their excellent tasting room in Battersea. With a similar format to the 2015 Bordeaux tastings we tasted the wines in flights of 11 or 12, [...]
