Radisson New World Hotel, 88 Nanjing Road Shanghai
Yalumba, Australia’s oldest family owned winery, sits firmly in the highest echelon of Australian wineries. It always has. With a dense history dating back to 1849, Yalumba’s wines and story reflect as much about the Australian wine industry as any. Read More >
I guess many readers have some form of wine group. Be it the single bottle club (SBC) or the ubiquitous Beef and Burgundy Club (BBC), wine groups abound whenever passionate wine lovers gather. Read More >
M. Chapoutier Domaine de Bila-Haut Cotes du Roussillon Villages Latour de France Occultum Lapidem 2009 & 2010
What auspicious vinous attributes should we be looking for in the year of The Wooden Horse? Veteran Sommelier and Wine Feng Shui Master, The Wandering Palate, prophesies on the wine that will bring good fortune and enjoyment. Read More >
Phillip Jones -The Pinot Noir Prodigy from Down-Under
For those of us that have known Phillip Jones throughout his winegrowing evolution–for some of us that spans over three decades–and those that have managed to grasp the idiosyncrasies and eccentricities of the man (and there are many) and his extraordinary wines, those that have persevered with his unrelenting obsession with the pinot noir grape (except for a cabernet aberration early in the piece), those that have endured countless Burgundy and Rhone dinners and tastings with him and the privilege of his enormous generosity and magnanimous sharing of bottles, those that have come to appreciate his affability, peculiarities, erraticism, his quip and vagary and all the oscillations and manifestations in between…over a lunch; a standing ovation and resounding applause, hip-hip-hurray!, hip-hip-hurray!, hip-hip-hurray! to Phillip Jones, Finalist in the Gourmet Traveller Winemaker of the Year 2013. Read More >
Walter Bourke: September 15, 1945 – September 19, 2003
I first met Walter Bourke in 1986, at his legendary Melbourne restaurant, Maria & Walter’s. I had been invited to the ‘Table 8’, an underground group of the most serious wine palates in Australia, which convened regularly in the upstairs private dining room at Maria & Walter’s for extravagant banquets with vertical tastings of some of the most coveted wines in the world.
Project Crimson – There are many ways we can save our planets unique ecosystems and combat climate change, some more pragmatic than others but none more beautiful than planting Pohutukawa or Rata trees in New Zealand – you don’t need to live there to understand the logic – click here
Pohutukawa www.projectcrimson.org.nz
Highlighting Felton Road as my Biodynamic Vigneron of the Lunar Year (Rabbit) encompasses acknowledging the hard toil of Felton Road viticulturist, Gareth King, and winemaker, Blair Walter; their implementation and day-to-day painstaking work in managing an organic vineyard and a property that fully embraces biodynamic principals is commendable with Felton Road the benchmark for New Zealand vignerons. Read More >
That wonderful Bastard Larry
Inspired by one of the ‘take home’ messages from the New Zealand Pinot Noir Celebration 2013, so eloquently articulated by Sam Neill, I have been doodling away on the “Bastards of Pinot Noir”.
It’s meant to be a song although reads more like a poem but I’m thinking if someone can come up with a musical score, along the lines of Led Zeppelin ‘Stairway to Heaven” or Johnny Lee Hooker Mr Lucky with some long guitar riffs, it might sound… well…more like a song.
What do think?
With picking for the 2013 vintage in Central Otago underway, the most alluring prospect for any pest bird such as Starlings, Sparrows and Indian Blackbirds is a nice ripe, juicy-sweet grape. These nuisance birds peck holes in grapes to drink the juice which exposes the grapes to fungal infection and subsequently the whole bunch is damaged. Read More >
