Andrew Hedley update on Framingham 2009 harvest

Andrew reports on a tricky vintage in Marlborough…

Tickety-boo wines at the home of crickety-poo

This year we upped the ante with some fine (mainly) organic and biodynamic wines including a nice slew of youthful Burgundies. I figured that if you come to the temple of cricket you want a bit more than vin de bog-standard. It was an opportunity for us to broach some lovely wines and show the brilliance rather than the cheapness of France…

Sunny vampire spit

It’s red, it’s fizzy, it’s seriously frivolous and it’s frivolously serious…

A Fine Spring Day

Carpe diem - die, carp, die. Spring thoughts on a spring day.

Bourgogne Blanc “Bigotes”, Domaine de Chassorney

It’s brel-liant!

The Polarisation of the Wine Trade

Centuries ago great satirists such as Jonathan Swift or Alexander Pope penned extensive critiques excoriating the smallmindedness of men. Today, we have social commentators like Richard Littlejohn. No, you couldn’t make that up. As far as a lot of people are concerned all is very much for the best in the hospitality industry; no-one in the trade wants to be seen to be talking down the business that feeds them. Maybe one should bite the hand more often, otherwise one is complicit in the bad practice that goes on. For years I have associated the wine trade with friendship and respect, but, recently, my image of it has been somewhat tarnished by witnessing the unfettered desire to win business at all costs and by a large number of restaurateurs who seemingly have no love for their suppliers and customers alike. It may be, of course, the case that such is the desire for survival that recessions naturally bring to the surface the basest instincts of humanity, for they also the purgative effect of shaking out the weakest operators, who long since bankrupted their good will.

Such musings were prompted by the effect of the publication of our latest list and the price rises contained therein…

Tasty Wines at Vinoteca

Some days, and this was one of those, the wines wear flowers in their hair and have a song on their lips. They weren’t even at the right temperature, but somehow the fruit was on its bonniest behaviour. Acidity, which on a bad day, can be tart or metallic, was present in a refreshing capacity; tannins, which can confer astringency, instead gave structure and definition. Wine after wine tasted balanced, and lived up to its billing, from the most embryonic, two-dimensional house wines to the subtler, potentially more volatile samples.

Heroes and villains of the wine trade

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. When push comes to crunch you see people for who they really are…

Sizzling Sicilians

Choking on Oak: A Tasting Where More is Less…

After a croissant and a coffee maybe a Cahors or ten is not a good idea, especially when it tastes like ten day old stewed tea…

When is a fault not a fault?

Pasquale Petrera from Fatalone explains how wines can change…

Hatzidakis wines - You can taste the vulcanicity