Month: July, 2015

Sicily in stills

Returning from an arduous trip to Sicily with our award-winning photographer Jason Lowe, our Creative Director Geordie Willis supplies a selection of snap-shots, capturing the region in still life. It is a sad fact that wine is made in some of the most beautiful places around the world, often by some of the most fascinating […]

A triptych from the Languedoc

Matthew Jones – Account Manager for our wholesale wing Fields, Morris & Verdin – recounts a three-day trip to the under-appreciated Languedoc, visiting three of the region’s most artful producers. Jancis Robinson, in her Oxford Companion to Wine, describes the Languedoc-Roussillon as “France’s best value region, and certainly its most important in terms of volume”. […]

A fine glass of Claret

Tom Cave – our Cellar Plan Manager – reports on yesterday’s tasting of Bordeaux 2014 en primeur, listing a few personal highlights of this supremely drinkable vintage. It was a true credit to our customers’ enduring enthusiasm to taste Bordeaux en primeur which meant, in spite of travel disruption, we were pretty much a full […]

Mastering the swirl-and-spit

During a six-week stint in our Pickering Cellar, food writer Victoria Stewart gets to grips with the major grape varieties and graduates from wine novice to confident swirl-sniff-spitter on our Introductory Wine course. Until recently I dreaded wine lists. Sure, I could navigate my way around thoughtful menus divided into ‘crisp and refreshing’ or ‘fruity’, but […]