Nel vigneti (among the vines)

Week three of wine adventures in Piedmont Bright sun and a warming breeze was all the encouragement a fair-weather lackey  needed to swap the pen for the secateurs. Alas it wasn’t to be. All togged up in my choicest gear, complete with hiking boots, the boss/il capo effectively left me on the bench as I watched […]

Olivier Humbrecht comes to Basingstoke

En route to Amsterdam the towering presence of Olivier Humbrecht MW stooped into Basingstoke last week to show off his fine 2007s. It seems eastern France fared better than their western counterparts in ’07, judging by the quality of White Burgundy, Chablis and the Rhone; and of course those of the Rhine! Nevertheless we were […]

‘E proprio cosi’ (‘It’s really like that’)

Week two of wine adventures in Piedmont  After what was, let’s be honest, a shaky start, I had a hunch things were about to change for the better when I received that call from Davide Rosso (my adopted fratello) as I made my way ‘home’ after a weekend in England. It was approaching midnight and I […]

Dinner with Frog’s Leap

Lying in a patch of heaven on Napa’s prime Rutherford Bench is John Williams’ Frog’s Leap winery; an oasis of viticultural life; an island of humility & fine wine, but not a frog in sight!  We were lucky enough to have John come to Berrys to tell his story over dinner; of how, in the […]