Port does not seem to be a very fashionable drink these days. It is much overlooked and probably much misunderstood certainly by Harry and a younger generation. It has the reputation of belonging to a different time not relevant to the modern lifestyle. Should we be drinking more Port? Is it worth investigating further? Well probably. Port wine also known as vinho do Porto, is a fortified wine produced in the Douro Valley in northern Portugal. Typically, it is a sweet red wine, although you can get some dry, semi-dry and sweet varieties. Port-styled fortified wines are produced in many...

Finally, some Bordeaux! One of, if not the, most famous wine region of the world. Right bank, Left Bank, Medoc, Claret, Saint-Emilion, Petrus, Lafite, d’Yquem and ‘En primeur’ are many famous names/words and terms associated with Bordeaux, but what do they all mean? In short and to be elaborated on further down this note or in other related tasting notes, Bordeaux is a very large (the largest in France with over 120,000 hectares) and very famous, wine producing region. We will try to demystify some of it whilst enjoying a few very, very good glasses. Bordeaux wine is produced in...

To be clear the wines we are tasting are Red Zinfandel. Not to be confused with the semi-sweet (blush-style) wine called white Zinfandel that is a large production wine type in USA. Red Zinfandel makes wines that in cooler areas have red berry fruit flavours. For example, raspberry, whereas in warmer areas blackberry, anise and pepper notes are more usual. Zinfandel was long thought to be America’s own grape variety but in 1967, Professor Austin Goheen whilst visiting Italy from the University of California, Davis (UCD) noticed how wines made from Primitivo reminded him of Zinfandel. He wasn’t alone in...

I cannot remember when I first tasted a Sauvignon Blanc or indeed my first Sancerre and Pouilly-Fume’s. I do, however, remember a wine trip that Kim and I took with a couple of friends in spring 1991. One of the stops was at a hotel called Le Castel in a pretty little village called Mailly-le-Chateau. Using Mailly-le-Chateau as our base we were able to head across to Sancerre & Pouilly-Fume and later north to Chablis. As is often the way with me, tasting wine in the place where it is made helps to crystalise the place in your mind. It...

Kim and I first visited South Africa back in 1991 on our honeymoon. In just over three weeks we drove well over 3,000 kilometres from Johannesburg out to the Kruger National Park, then down to Durban, across to Port Elisabeth, the garden route and Cape Town. Finally, we took the ‘Blue Train’ back up to Johannesburg. It was an incredible trip and whilst the country was going through significant change. A change that is still a part of the life in South Africa. The people we met and places we visited left a strong tie between us and South Africa....