- Blog of a wine, food & life lover

The week started in style with a magnificant six course degustation menu at Didas Victoria Park. Whilst you dont need a reason for such luxury to start the week, we had Matt Dicey - Winemaker for Mt Difficulty in town to host the event. The meal was prepared by Didas Head Chef, Vincent Marshall and matched with older vintages from the Mt Difficulty range. Over the years I've had some of the best food and wine matches at Didas (also some big misses), we give our team the freedom to create menu's that they think will work, it's great for creativity. So when introducing the night, I'm always concious to invite those attending to join us on the adventure,… Read More

On my second day at Vin Expo in 2011, the day started with a tasting at the Jaboulet stand. Jaboulet is a wonderful old company located in Tain l'Hermitage in the Northern Rhone (also home to Valrohna chocolate) it was started in the 19th Century by Antoine Jaboulet. Over the years, the family expanded and it became Pail Jaboulet Aine. In 2005 Jaboulet was sold, vineyards, stock and the whole property to the Frey Family owners of Chateau La Lagune in Bordeaux. From 2005 on, there's been much change at Jaboulet - all for the best. As I started tasting the 2009 wines, I was delighted to see a return to glory for this property; the quality has been increasing steadily for a number of years and with… Read More

Through December we had a number of excellent tastings at Glengarry, the one that stood out for me was the Rose Champagne tasting on the 7th December. This one was always going to be great fun - you see, I was not the presenter - for this tasting - a guest, there to enjoy the wines - which I did! Rose Champagne is quite unique, European law controls the way that Rose is made, it must be produced via the saignee method - basically Rose made from very light pressings of red grape varieties. Historically in Champagne, Rose Champagne has been produced by adding small amounts of red wine to white wine. When the law was passed, stating that only the Saignee… Read More

I had a wonderful visit to Burgundy in June 2011, visiting existing suppliers of Glengarry and some new prospects I'd eyed up. As I work through writing up all my notes I'll post them on my blog. First up - Domaine Anne Gros. It's always a pleasure tasting visiting Anne Gros, she is such an amazing winemaker and an inspirational women. In fact on this particular day of tasting I meet with three amazing female winemakers, starting in the morning with Anne Parent (Domaine Parent - we'll have their wines from the 2010 vintage that will arrive towards the end of 2012) she was a hoot, a Pommard specialist, I loved her explanation of the differences between the North and South… Read More

My week has been full of wonderful Bordeaux experiences - it's been a whole heap of fun, the tastings and events finished last night with a look at 2001 - 2008, skipping 2002. This followed a look at seven wines from the 2008 vintage at Thorndon Quay in Wellington on Wednesday night. Over both nights we tried some great Bordeaux and really explored the 2008 vintage wines which have recently arrived. Last night's tasting was conducted by my good friend Thibault Delpech from Ginestet. Ginestet are one of the oldest Bordeaux Negociants, founded in 1897. Originally the owners of the first growth Chateau Margaux, Ginestet are today, once again Chateau owners -… Read More