It was a sunny lunchtime but I was trapped in a dark, underground state-cellar with 150, aged Australians. After an average meal, I was forced to clap and sing to cheesy songs (think ‘Que Sera Sera’) by a strutting, lederhosen clad, German blonde-bombshell who appeared to think he was Mick … Continue reading
With Christmas and the end of the year hoving into view, it’s time to think about celebratory wines. With that in mind, we have fizz (and plenty of it) in the form of a couple of guest wines. WineTrust 100 make a welcome return, and we have the wines of … Continue reading
November brings bonfire night – a smokey, spicy, chilly celebration of fireworks, oohs and aaahs. It is also the month of Remembrance Day and Movember. The wines from our regular Cambridge merchants are, like many a fuzzy upper lip, bigger and fuller this month – and we have not one but two guest … Continue reading
October is a somewhat confused time of year – the only month that can bring summer-like heat, damp autumnal chill and wintry darkness. At this time of year, foods are gamey with intense sauces which means big wines with gamey, vegetal aromas. This month, we also have a seasonally-appropriate guest … Continue reading
September means back-to-school time – not quite the end of the summer weather, but neither yet fully autumnal. It is the start of a gentle slide into gradually cooler weather, shorter days and general decline. But with an Indian Summer still a distinct possibility, we need a range of wines … Continue reading
Kefalonia’s Gentilini family, originally from Italy, traces its arrival on the Greek island back to the 1520s; several centuries later, in the early 20th century, the last Gentilini married a Kosmetatos and the name died out. Marianna Kosmetatos, a direct descendent of the Gentilini-Kosmetatos line, is the current owner and … Continue reading
Earlier this year, the CWB family spent a week in the gite of Chateau d’Angles as guests of owners Eric and Christine Fabre. La Clape is a rocky hill covered in low scrub, known as garrigue – and forest lying between Narbonne and the Mediterranean in France’s Languedoc region. … Continue reading
July – the height of summer before the August break. Or at least that’s what we hope for; picnics and garden parties, lazy summer Sundays and long evenings, barbecues and salads. Summer foods are lighter and we need wines to match – this means generally whites, with the odd barbecue … Continue reading
Named after the Greek goddess Maia, May is the month when spring turns into summer – or should do, at least. With two bank holidays in the month, opportunities for leisurely eating outside should be plentiful – and in case we get the inevitable bank holiday wash-out, there are also some … Continue reading
On April 10th 1663, diarist, Cambridge-graduate and upwardly-mobile man-about-town, Samuel Pepys wrote to have “drank a sort of French wine called Ho Bryen that hath a good and most particular taste I never met with”, thereby inventing the tasting note. Haut-Brion, the only Bordeaux first growth based outside the Medoc, was … Continue reading
Dopff & Irion is based in the beautiful village of Riquewihr in Franco-Germanic Alsace; the vineyards are now four estates, created by René Dopff in 1945: Les Murailles, Les Sorcières, Les Maquisards and Les Amandiers, each with a single variety planted. The domaine sent me two wines to review: they make … Continue reading
It’s not often you get to try a completely new appellation of wine – the Ramon Bilbao NV Mar de Frades Albariño Rías Baixas Brut Nature, the first-ever sparkling Albarino from Rias Baxas, was presented by Carlos Delage at Cambridge Hotel du Vin at a Ramon Bilbao dinner. Over canapes … Continue reading
April is the first full month of spring – a time when the grapes for this year’s wine will start to burst as buds on the vines. It is also the month of Earth Day, St George’s Day and the London marathon, so take your pick. Also, April Fools Day … Continue reading
Dating back to 1957, La Cave des Vignerons de Pfaffenheim is a co-operative of 230 growers based in the sunnier, warmer part of southern Alsace that typically produces riper, fuller wines. Alsace, with its Germanic heritage, generally produces single-variety wines labelled as such – these two wines, however, are blends … Continue reading
Also on Cambridge Wine Blogger. With a name taken from the Roman god of war, March is neither quite the depths of winter nor properly spring. Chilly, rather than frosty, it is said to come in like a lion and go out like a lamb. February’s snowdrops have given way … Continue reading
Wine of the Month took a de-tox break in January, but with those New Year’s Resolutions now merely a distant memory and half a drinks cabinet of various whiskies from Burns Night waiting to be finished off, it’s time to turn our thoughts to February and Valentine’s Day. Call me … Continue reading
Christmas has its origins as a midwinter festival – a time of communal celebration and feasting to mark the half-way point in the winter calendar. It’s surely no coincidence that both the Gregorian calendar and the Christian church follow pagan customs in marking out mid-winter as a notable time. In … Continue reading
This article also appears on CambridgeWineBlogger On the cusp of autumn and winter, November is a month for warming spicy reds, maybe still with a bit of autumnal mellow fruitfulness. Bright days after clear nights bring misty mornings with a watery sun hanging low in the sky, golden russet hues … Continue reading
In a recent post, Will Lowe says that the start of autumn is marked by one’s first opening of a Châteauneuf-du-Pape . I think this is spot-on and as the evenings get darker, the weather more blustery and the leaves russet and golden, the idea of a wine with more … Continue reading
After an August break during which the CWB household travelled to Burgundy and the south of France, we returned to a cold, wet and miserable late British “summer”. Now, with the schools just back, that seems like a distant memory with temperatures rising and a barbecue Indian Summer in the … Continue reading
Now that Wine of the Month is into its second year, I thought it might be interesting to start mixing things up a little by adding a matching food element – and a competition. Whilst Cambridge may still not be a great dining-out city (due in part to the large numbers … Continue reading
The Languedoc, according Charles Hardcastle of Joseph Barnes Wines, is a rustic, peasanty land with an ancient and bloody history – a land of impenetrable dialects, heresy and repression. The strange, earthy character of the region is also reflected in the wines, which tend towards an expressively rustic, spicy charm. … Continue reading
The other week, I met Muriel Lismonde who, with her family, runs Tour de Belfort, a start-up winery in Cahors. The Background The project started when Muriel’s father sold the his Paris-based business and used the proceeds to buy a ruin and some land in the village of Quercy. I … Continue reading
This Wirra Wirra The 12th Man Chardonnay hails from the Adelaide Hills in Australia and is aged in French oak. Australia was the first country to give us big, ripe, buttery Chardonnay – a style that spread across the (New) World only to be usurped in a backlash against oak … Continue reading
Congratulations And jubilations I want the world to know I’m happy as can be “Congratulations” Cliff Richard (1968) June is a month of multiple celebrations – the Diamond Jubilee, an extra day off work. Plus Wine of the Month is one year old. And who knows, after the wettest drought … Continue reading
If New Zealand’s Villa Maria is the John Lewis of wine, always dependable and well-made in a middle-class, slightly expensive sort of way, and Pinot Noir is the Alfa Romeo of grapes, capable of greatness and disappointment in equal measure, what then to make of a pair of Villa Maria Pinots … Continue reading