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New Wines!

by blog on March 2, 2015

The Gain in Spain is mainly in the mountains Despite the flowers peeking through the earth, spring hasn’t even officially sprung yet we are hearing the first cheep-cheep (and less cheap) of fledgling wines in the Caves portfolio. Our Spanish nest has several chirpy denizens squawking for attention. We are delighted to be working with […]

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Ugly Wine Words: Part Two

by blog on February 26, 2015

Reposted from July 2014 Read Part One HERE PEEP JARGON Consultants of swing? Bespoke Service, or “service” as it should be called, is offered by consultants to differentiate their efforts from those of others. It implies that the elevated service in question is personal (as opposed to??) and specifically tailored to the requirements of the […]

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Ugly Wine Words: Part One

February 21, 2015
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Reposted from July 2014 Vinonsense We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills and meaningless jargon.  –William Zinsser Ours is the age of substitutes: instead of language, we have jargon: instead of principles, slogans: and, instead of genuine ideas, bright ideas.  –Eric Bentley You’d need an industry primer (which doesn’t exist) […]

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South African Mini Wine Odyssey – Part Two

February 17, 2015
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 Day Two Gentle advice for those who talk about natural wine This much I know: always give a talk whilst suffering from mild jet lag, the equivalent state of gentle inebriation that allows your words to float away from you like balloons. Caroline’s Wine Shop in Cape Town, in conjunction with Alex Dale wearing his […]

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Chatting with Sebastian De Martino

February 12, 2015
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1. What attracted you to Itata initially - had you ever tasted wines from this region? What attracted us was its history (quite unknown and mysterious even), the southern location (high rainfall and dry farming), the varieties not found in the northern regions, the maritime influence, the landscape dominated by rolling hills, plus the granite soils. […]

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Itata and the roots of Chilean wine

February 9, 2015
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I am indebted to the De Martino family for their research into this fascinating region of Chile. It is fair to say that they rediscovered its potential as part of their quest to identify original terroirs in Chile. Itata is not a region which the wine cognoscenti know a great deal about. The wines from […]

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South African Mini Wine Odyssey – Part One

February 4, 2015
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 Craig Hawkins & Testalonga As the aircraft sashays towards Cape Town you get a glimpse of the muscular beauty of this slice of Africa. The city itself is expanding confidently, a natural amphitheatre-shaped area bordered by Table Bay and defined by the mountains of Signal Hill, Lion’s Head, the oblong massif of the Table Mountain and Devil’s Peak. […]

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The Point of Points: Part 3

February 2, 2015
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The Nature of Wine Tasting Many dozens of books have fully explored the mechanics of taste, its fixities and definites, and there are numerous systems to codify or judge these. Sometimes I wonder if this is not a case of “we murder to dissect”. I would like to propose an alternative romantic notion that wine […]

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The Point of Points: Part 2

January 28, 2015
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Phile under Pinot I’m sure Pinot’s musky quality directly stimulates the part of the brain that processes sensuality yet I’ve had more unfulfilling encounters with this grape than I care to remember. One may dine out liberally on disappointment – one can’t drink it, however. The 1980’s vogue for cold maceration, extraction and new oak […]

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The Point of Points: Part 1

January 27, 2015
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Originally posted April 2013 Of pointyheads, pulse-quickeners & phoeno-types Compare this, rank that, analyse to the nth degree – the more you reduce wine to numbers the less you understand it. A scientist is a machine for turning wine into theorems When we have all the meaning and lost all the mystery, we will be […]

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