The 2014 Totally Arbitrary Wine Awards
Everyone seems to be booking their end-of-the-year egoic flight of fancy, so apologies for my boring and opinionated end-of-the-year list of mainly goodies with the odd hiss-boo baddie thrown in,…
The art & nature of wine transformation: Part 2
Continued from Part 1... Something from something Here’s the rub. Nothing can come of nothing. The Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius expressed this principle in his first book of De Rerum Natura…
The art & nature of wine transformation: Part 1
Science commits suicide when it adopts a creed ~ Thomas Huxley The subject of wine (not just the wine itself) is sometimes in danger of becoming an intellectual dead-end due…
Natural Resistance: The struggle for the soil and soul of wine. Part 3
Read Parts 1 and 2 here. Natural Resistance – man against machine Jonathan Nossiter's film Natural Resistance presents the struggle of the artisan vigneron for the life and soul of…
Natural Resistance: The struggle for the soil and soul of wine. Part 2
The debasement of appellation DO governance creates sweeping one-size-fits-all policies that ride roughshod over individuals, take no account of tradition, the needs of the land and the rhythms and vagaries…
Natural Resistance: The struggle for the soil and soul of wine. Part 1
During walks through the vineyards and relaxed gatherings with a group of alternative Italian wine growers, he trades experiences and arguments. What looks like a bucolic paradise, where intelligent people…
Wine Clichés of the week
The language of wine commerce is nothing if not redundant, a barely digestible gallimaufry of hollow jargon, euphemism and tautology, infused with self-importance and seasoned with the obsessive desire to…
Wine au Naturel podcast: an audio interview with Jenny Lefcourt of Jenny & Francois Selections
Jenny & Francois have in large part been responsible for introducing America to the wonderful world of natural wine. Their company began in 2000 after Jenny, a native New Yorker,…
Extraction & The Winemaker: Less is more except when the opposite is the case
Extracting sunbeams from cucumbers may be beyond their capabilities, but some oenologists seem to have the alchemical inclination to squeeze base gold out of simple grape juice. Wanting more from…
Wine au Naturel podcast: an audio interview with Joseph Di Blasi of Vinosseur
Joseph Di Blasi is a blogger and natural wine importer now based in Poland. Joseph chats with us about the wine culture in both Poland and Norway (his former stomping…
Going to work on an egg
An egg is always an adventure; the next one may be different.” - Oscar Wilde “Love and eggs are best when they are fresh.” - Russian proverb So we are…
Mourning Pierre Caslot of Domaine de la Chevalerie
It is with sadness that we learn that Pierre Caslot of Domaine de la Chevalerie has passed away at the age of 62. He will be greatly missed. A larger than life…
Return of the Natives: Part 3
Read Parts 1 and 2 here. In the first two parts of this piece about grape varieties and original styles we examined how local regional grapes were beginning to make a…
Return of the Natives: Natural winemakers’ revival of autochthonous grape varieties and original styles. Part 2
Continued from Part 1... Refashioning grape reputations It is not just the AOPs that are to blame for certain varieties never falling into fashion. Critical stereotyping seems to occur when…
Return of the Natives: Natural winemakers’ revival of autochthonous grape varieties and original styles. Part 1
I once tasted a Georgian wine that had over 400 grape varieties blended into it. If ever there was a declaration of the symbolic desire to preserve a multi-faceted grape…
A Styrian Adventure: Part 2
Read Part 1 HERE Dragonflies, Stag Beetles, Salamanders and Butterflies Franz leads us to a layby where Andreas Tscheppe is waiting. Andreas apologises profusely for his lack of English (they…
A Styrian Adventure – Part One
Styria – History and Regional Overview Viticulture is one of the oldest cultural traditions in Austria. As early as 2500 years ago (about 400 BC), the Celts knew about and…
More New Wines from Spain and Italy!
Celler Comunica, Montsant Priorat with a sense of humour Celler Comunica is located in the town of Falset, 370 metres above sea level in a dry, Mediterranean climate. The…
New Wines have landed! (From Jura, Burgundy + more)
Jurassic Car Park There is a Caves de Pyrène axiom that states the less wine that is made in a vintage, the more growers you must list from that blighted…
An Interview with Jamie Goode: Part 2
Read Part 1 here! Jamie Goode is an author with a PhD in plant biology, and is the wine columnist for The Sunday Express. He also contributes to wine publications such as Harpers, The World of Fine Wine, Decanter, Noble Rot,…
What’s happening with the Real Wine Fair 2015?
So what’s happening to The Real Wine Fair? The Real Wine Fair will continue, but instead of a one-off big two day tasting, it will comprise a year-long series of…
An Interview with Jamie Goode, Author, Journalist, Blogger & Wine Judge. Part 1
This interview originally appeared in the online publication, In Search of Taste. Head over there to read it in its full form. Jamie Goode is an author with a PhD in plant biology, and is…
The Return of Panda Jerk-Show
How Natural is Unnatural Our occasional guest blogger Panda Jerk-Show turns up the anti-natural-wine vitriol to gas Mark Two Although my blog is not solely devoted to the scourge of…
New fish on the block
Don Bocarte – Grand Cru Anchovies & Tuna Les Caves de Pyrène is proud to announce that we will now be representing Don Bocarte as their UK agent! Don Bocarte will…
The Accidental Death of the Wine Writer
Andrew Jefford once announced at a European blogger’s conference that the wine writer is dead. We weren’t aware that he had been ill, but as the last typewriter rolled off…
Natural whine week
Tis been a loony tunes few weeks in the world of vin nature, featuring a slew of lycanthropic articles that one surely associates with the presence of the full moon.…
THE AUSSIES HAVE LANDED! (Part 2)
TOM SHOBBROOK & DIDI, BAROSSA Smashability.... Tom picked up the Gourmet Traveller/Wine Australia medal in 2010 for Best Young Winemaker. He’s self taught, learning much of his trade in Italy. He built…
THE AUSSIES HAVE LANDED! (Part 1)
Return to Egg You’ve doubtless read that a dynamic wine culture has recently been rearing its irreverent head in Australia. Of course, the situation is considerably more complex than that…
What is Deliciousness Part 2: The Stepford Wines
The philosophy of selling the brand is much like having your glass of cheap plonk and drinking it. To satisfy the thirsty market, wines are produced in vast quantities which,…
What is deliciousness? Part One
‘My glass was filled with a light red wine poured from a pitcher, left on the table. I was relaxed, carefree and happy. Oh, how ruby bright that wine was;…
Chatting with Matt Swieboda of Sydney’s Love Tilly Devine
Love Tilly Devine is one of the best wine bars in Australia. There, I said it. It's the kind of place you want to linger in well into the wee…
A Guest post by Alice Feiring: Michel Bettane, a Tragedy
American wine writer Alice Feiring is one of the world’s most passionate and knowledgeable natural wine spokespeople. Be sure to follow her musings at her blog, The Feiring Line, read her wonderful books, The…
The Wild West
--by Christina Pickard This feature first appeared in Gourmet Traveller Wine‘s April/May 2014 issue. Read it here in its full form: You’ll find them down dirt roads beneath the tin roofs…
An interview with music legend (and natural wine lover) Anthony Wilson
This interview first appeared on the online publication In Search of Taste. Read it HERE. Anthony Wilson is one of the leading musicians of his generation. Known for his imagination, maturity, and…
Vinonsense (or ‘Ugly Wine Words’): Part Two
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.…
Vinonsense (or ‘Ugly Wine Words’): Part One
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…
Feeding the Ox – A Celebration of Oxidation: Part Two
Continued from Part One... Air apparent and slow-cooked wines Managed oxidation, the type of barrels, the quality of the lees, the temperature (and temperament) of the ferment (and the naturally-allowed…
WIN a MAGNUM of 2009 Zidarich Vitovska!
For one lucky winner... Les Caves de Pyrene are giving away a magnum of 2009 Zidarich Vitovska A bit about what makes this wine so special: The Vitovska grape hails…
Feeding the Ox – A Celebration of Oxidation: Part One
Networking with O2 When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be ~ Lao Tzu Only those who will risk going too far can possibly…
Pretty in Pink: Part 2 (The Rest of the World)
And so we continue on our Rosé journey with these utterly delicious pinks... Fade to Grigio Dario Princic is located in Oslavia in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, very close to the Slovenian…
Soul Juice – Patrick Sullivan Wine, Yarra Valley
A guest post by Daniel Honan aka The Wine Idealist “It may have changed, but a winemaking degree is an absolute waste of time,” says Patrick Sullivan, “if you want…
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…
Moonwalking at The London Wine Sessions
Looking at the wine world from afar with a considerable lack of gravity… A peripatetic journey around the wine world or, if you prefer, rumbling in the wine jungle, alighting…
A world without the Aussie wine show: Part Two
--Christina Pickard Continued from Part One Another aspect of the wine show that gets rarely gets mentioned but is all-too-often an elephant in the room, is bullying. I suspect so…
A world without the Aussie wine show: Part One
--Christina Pickard Moving from the UK to Australia, after having grown up in the United States, is hardly a culture shock. The language is mostly the same, the food is…
The New List Approacheth! (The second half)
Buying wine is as much about refreshment and renewal as plugging theoretical gaps in wine portfolios, the principle being that you should & would drink the wines yourself. Consequently, we…
Our new list is imminent
So what are the new wines that are fit to make it into print? Part One – French Polishing Up SW France ~ Languedoc~ Roussillon Nicolas Carmarans - Maximus…
French wine stupidity: A guest post by Alice Feiring
In an effort to encourage more outside voices on our blog, we have asked several prominent wine writers and natural wine supporters to contribute their words to our pages. We…
Real Wine & Fearless Asymmetry
It’s nice to abandon logic (to be an uncritic, as it were) and the habit of mind that would “murder to dissect” (to quote Wordsworth) wine and to go with…
The Real Alternative Wine Glossary: X, Y, Z
Xarel.lo to Xylotypographic Xarel-lo! – How you should greet a top class Cava. X-cess - as in “Give me excess of it, that surfeiting, /The appetite may sicken, and so…
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