Doug Decants: The Champagnes of Vauversin
Grand Blanc-ety Blanc We prefer real pagne over sham pagne any way. There’s not so much of it about, unlike bad old jokes. The Maison Vauversin, currently managed by Laurent…
Nuggetorials 4
Liberté, fraternité and vinosité Now that Real Wine in the Vines is nestling happily in the dustbin of history, I can concern myself entirely with trivia or propound my…
A Savennières Moment
Savennières. The name for me has always oozed mystery and majesty. And class in a glass. Its very sound suggests something serpentine like the Loire river winding off into the…
Key bottles that unlocked a love for wine
...And influenced me to do what? To run shrieking “eureka” through the streets? To put aside my nefarious plans to take over the world? To retreat to the hermetic life,…
Doug Decants: Commune of Buttons
In 2014 Jasper Button and his sister Sophie returned home to help save their family vineyard called Fernglen. Commune refers to their project’s continued happy reliance on community and shared…
On the radar and under the radar with Les Caves
In the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes. Once upon a time when we were but a teeny amateur company knee-high to a Diam cork with barely two…
Nuggetorials 3
A matter of taste 'To show the relativity of what’s good taste and what’s not is something I like to play with.' ~ Jean-Paul Gaulthier 'I have drunken deep of…
The Tour That Was…South Africans hit the UK and other unorthodox events this year
Les Caves embraces the unorthodox. Or perhaps it would be fairer to say that the unorthodox embraces Les Caves. We are now well into flaming June and the year seems…
The Ploussardisation of red wine
And why this is a good thing When we are first taught about the facts of life about wine, everything is binary and conveniently boxed. We are told that all…
The Battle of the English White Pinots
Marasby White Pinot Pioneers Tasting I am a tough crowd as a wine taster, as I believe in always benchmarking what I taste against the best in that category.…