My very first ever job was as Buyer of Italian Wines for Victoria Wine/Grants of St. James’s back in the 80s and I have retained many good friends from those years. Italy will always retain a very special place in my oenophile heart but there is such a confusing array of regions, names and most bewilderingly [...]

We were sorry to see Anna leave last month but delighted that Charles is joining us. Lucky chap - one of the first things he had to do was come to Champagne with me to learn a bit about how a quality Champagne grower makes better Champagne than the rest.
More details on such questions as “why [...]

When I used to work for Hardy’s there was never a visit to Australia without a few offers to join a vineyard investment scheme. An easy way to make quick money, such was the unsatisfied demand for Aussie wines, especially reds.
The huge forecasted sales volumes did not achieve their expected levels, but the vineyards had [...]

We are delighted to launch a range of four different Proseccos from Azienda Agricola Serre, high up in the hills, some 30 miles north of Venice.
True to form, the wine region/designation has a long and complicated official name; DOC Prosecco di Conegliano-Valdobbiadene. (This impenetrability and confusion possibly being one of the reasons why Italian wines [...]

Six hours drive south in the sleeting rain we got to Manduria at one o’clock in the morning.
At our first visit we were welcomed with an unprompted tirade against the Spanish bulk wine merchants for ruining the bulk wine market for Puglia. Puglia used to be the biggest supplier of whole tanker ships of bulk [...]

From Tuscany down to Umbria and a whole new set of flavours and textures. First call is at Azienda Agricola Di Filippo where Roberto Filippo is an exponent of Agricoltura Biologica. For me, green as I am, a wine must first and foremost taste great and represent great value for money (VFM). If it is [...]

You will be pleased to know it’s raining here, too. I love Italy, Italians, Italian food , Italian wines so I’m highly excited to be here this week prospecting for new wines.
I am driving around with my old friend and wine tasting partner Christophe, so in between his French, my English and our joint Italian [...]

Yesterday, here in Buckinghamshire, we had more dramatic rainfall than I’ve ever seen in a 12 hour period, flooding the road outside our house, beating leaves off the trees, even stunning birds which seem to be lying dead by the side of the road in numbers. So I was able to appreciate a little more [...]