David
Bordeaux red wines are great with food and given the fact that they are made from a blend of grapes you can find a Bordeaux red to suit most dishes. There are 6 permitted grape varieties in a Bordeaux blend: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Carmenere. Today Malbec is very seldom used … Read more
La Dame de Montrose is the Second Wine of Chateau Montrose and is named after Yvonne Charmolüe who ran the estate from 1944 to 1960. Montrose lies in the east of Saint Estèphe, just north of the hamlet of Marbuzet, on a gravel knoll only 800 metres from the Gironde estuary. Château Montrose began life when Etienne-Théodore Dumoulin purchased the gravel ridge … Read more
Given the fact that China is now the 10th largest wine producer in the world I thought it would be useful to have a look at the main wine producing regions in the country. Grape growing areas in China mainly concentrate in Shandong, Hebei, Ningxia and Xinjiang provinces and winechina.com has a useful section on the regions. Shandong … Read more
A fully-working replica of Henry VIII’s wine fountain has been installed at Hampton Court Palace in London and will flow with both red and white wine for visitors at weekends and bank holidays. It was built after the remains of a similar 16th century fountain were discovered during an archaeological dig at the palace a couple … Read more
Quite a hectic first day at Vinexpo! Numbers were down apparently due to a clash with an exhibition in China at the weekend so many people are not travelling from China to Vinexpo. Looking at the dates it’s probably the Interwine China trade fair at Guangzhou which covers wine and spirits. Having said that Vinexpo certainly … Read more
The Co-op has announced that it is to plant vines at its estate in Down Ampney near Cirencester. Down Ampney is a small village located just inside the Cotswold water park on the Wiltshire border and 5 miles south east of Cirencester. The village is renowned as the birth place of the composer Ralph Vaughan … Read more
With my trip to Vinexpo Asia Pacific in Hong Kong not far away I have been curious as to whether the burgeoning and potential giant domestic wine industry in China would ever use indigenous grape varieties to make wine. I have seen that the Chinese are discovering terroirs that are suitable for Western grapes – but … Read more
Mao Tai is China’s national drink and was designated as such in 1951, two years after the founding of People’s Republic of China. It is named after the town of Mao Tai in Guizhou province (in south west China) where the drink originates from. It is made from wheat and sorghum with a unique distilling process … Read more
The Château la Fleur Morange 2006 has won a Gold at the Decanter World Wine Awards which were announced at the London International Wine Fair yesterday the 18th of May! There were record entries this year with 10,983 wines entered and only 2.86% won a Gold or Regional trophy. That’s less than 320 wines from around the world! … Read more
The Telegraph has reported that sales of Crémant have surged. Champagne sales dropped by 9% overall last year, while Crémant in Burgundy was up 6% and in Alsace – the biggest producer – by 8% despite the global downturn. As you know my favourite French sparkling wine – apart from Philippe Seconde’s Champagnes – are the Crémant d’Alsace. Crémant wines … Read more
