Doug decants: The Wines of Philippe Bornard
Philippe Bornard lives in the village of Pupillin near Arbois. His vineyards were inherited from his father, who previously sold only to co-ops. It was Pierre Overnoy, no less, who…
Pretty in Pink: Part 2 (The Rest of the World)
And so we continue on our Rosé journey with some utterly delicious pinks… Was it Mariah Carey in We Belong Together (remix) (feat. Jadakiss and Sty) who extolled the great…
Pretty in Pink: Part 1 (The Frenchies)
We’ve probably endured enough whimsical articles about “la vie en rosé” and how we should be “tickled pink” by surprisingly drinkable rosé wines, but that’s not going to stop this…
Wine Wabi-Sabi
There are two broadly opposed approaches to farming and winemaking that illustrate the personal aesthetic of those people who are involved in the process. One is to see farming and…
Doug Decants: The Auvergnate Wines of Domaine Maupertuis
Too much and too little wine. Give him none, he cannot find truth; give him too much, the same. --Blaise Pascal (born in Clermont-Ferrand) Jean Maupertuis tends 3.8 hectares of…
How To Be A Buyer
Wine buyers fall into various categories. There are the buyers for investment purposes, wherein the wine is already a commodity with a burnished reputation. (The market has already ascribed a…
Doug Decants: Momento Mori Staring at the Sun
New Zealander Dane Johns (who staged with the great Bill Downie) worked many years as a barista in Melbourne where he learned about roasting and the nuances of blending and…
Women in wine
This year we’ve seen some proper celebration of women in wine. There have been pop-up events, a BYO podcast, due acknowledgement on wine lists, and articles in the wine press,…
How Do You Like Them Appellations?
Not a lot! We recently received communication from our friends at Il Paradiso di Manfredi in Montalcino. Another example of appellations falling a long way from the tree of sanity: On…
The First Wine Cuckoo of Spring
The cuckoo in Wordsworth’s poem heralds the coming of spring, and whilst the cuckoo chants her merry song, one may also discern a more discordant vernal sound – that of…