Oregon Tale
I have just returned from Oregon Pinot Camp. This event has been organised annually since 2000. Approximately 270 members of the wine trade from the US - plus a smaller…
Words to the Wine: Part Three
Yet MORE twinkling English dialect words that might invigorate the tedious repetitions and formulations of wine-tasting descriptions. I’m not saying that they are remotely appropriate or that you have to…
Will global warming make wines more alcoholic?
Global warming presents a vast array of challenges for the vine grower. It is not just that certain regions are becoming hotter, but that extreme weather events are becoming more…
Why doesn’t Les Caves de Pyrene carry major brands?
Once upon a time I wrote a short piece for a magazine deploring the banality of corporate jargon in the wine trade. Terms like upsegmentation, channel management, wine margin optimisers,…
Wines of Georgia Tasting in London
This week saw the inaugural Wines of Georgia tasting in London organised by Sarah Abbott of Swirl Wine Group. The Georgian ambassador wrote an introduction for the catalogue explaining the…
Doug Decants: Champers, Sherry, Gramenon and more!
Champagne Pierre Gerbais Grains de Celles Rosé Champagne Pierre Gerbais is a fourth generation domaine in the Aube. It is spearheaded today by the youthful Aurélien Gerbais, a winemaker who…
The Strange Affair of the Missing Wine Mention
Plus a critical case of natural wine vapours... --Doug Wregg Note: these are the opinions of Doug Wregg and do not reflect those of Les Caves de Pyrene as a company. Every…
June is Grower Champagne Month!
Our friends at The Good Wine Shop, in partnership with Les Caves de Pyrene and several other top notch distributors and retailers (as well the excellent Bottled Films), are spearheading…
What the bubbles is Pet Nat?
A Pet Nat (short for pétillant naturel) is a sparkling wine from a single vintage that undergoes a single fermentation. The wine ferments with its own yeast in tank or…
What is orange wine?
Orange is a colour in the wine spectrum. The colour denotes that grapes (which we may normally associate with white wines) have been macerated on their skins – as if…
Real Thanks!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=OY6hTsfQF9k The Real Wine Fair 2017 Highlights. Video by Bottled Films. The Real Wine Fair is always a gigantic collaborative effort. As well as a big heart, it requires a…
Taste Slovenia
Towards the end of 2016, our Sir Wregg traipsed across Slovenia tasting the bounty of its most artisan of growers. Fast forwarded to present day we have wines from two…
Georgia on my… palate
Mandili Mtsvane Mandili is a project of Marina Kurtanidze (who is married to Iago Bitarishvili) and Tea Melanashvili. Both women wanted to make a wine that was both Georgian in…
What is en rama and what are we doing about it?
One of the most compelling developments of the nascent sherry renaissance has been the emergence of a new style known as en rama, which roughly translates to “on the branch”…
The Wild West: Cracking Californians and Outstanding Oregonians
The Real Wine Fair was attended by many of our Californian and Oregonian vignerons (don’t forget Vermont – Ed). The range of wines poured was incredible – we believe this…
The Fault-Finder General
Do not fret, it’s not a crisis But this wine has brettanomyces! “He was marked out by his relentless ability to find fault with others' mediocrity--suggesting that a certain type…
How to get the best out of the Real Wine Fair 2017
TRAVEL Check out Transport for London website for travel options and route planning (as well as news on any possible delays). Nearest stations are Shadwell – DLR and Wapping -London Overground…
ONE WEEK TO GO!
The Real Wine Fair is one of the original natural wine fairs and has become an internationally-renowned event since its inception in 2012. Growers come from all over the world…
Does the Real Wine Fair 2017 have a theme?
Doug Wregg, co-organiser of the Real Wine Fair: Someone asked me what the theme of the fair was and I had no idea - we don't really work to a theme. But then I…
Of Good Fairs, The Real Story, and Georgian Wine Culture
If I may rehash my chirpy cockney praise for natural wine fairs: A bit of natural wine, from the organic vine More than good, it’s fine – it’s out of…
Mimi, Fifi, Glouglou and me with Michel Tolmer
...at The Real Wine Fair Sunday 7th May 2.00 pm The Official Launch of the English version of Michel Tolmer's book, Mimi, Fifi & Glouglou, translated by our Sir Wregg! Who are…
English Wine at the Real Wine Fair: Davenport Vineyards
Will Davenport of Davenport Vineyards will once again be at the Real Wine Fair this year 7-8th May 2017, pouring a selection of still and sparkling wines. He’s been making…
Back to basics, or what makes wine the way it is
In the beginning… Is potential. This comprises a particular location and a sympathetic culture. That culture will include the greater wine environment, the history of farming, the gastronomy of the…
Three Restaurants = Six Wine Bars
International pop-ups! Sunday May 7th Celebrating The Real Wine Fair! #realwinefair In their own words… Paris meets Battersea: Le Verre Volé at Soif Who stole the glass at Le Verre…
Not the last word by any means on the natural wine kerfuffle
This article is inspired, if that’s the right word, by a proliferation of silly pieces about natural wines recently. Like the mythical London buses, these broadsides tend to come in…
Keeping it Real (Wine) with Co-Organiser Doug Wregg
We are proud to say that Doug Wregg, our sales and marketing director was named no. 28 in this year's ‘Harpers' Hot 100: Celebrating the most influential people in the…
Doug Decants: Limoux and Oregon (as you do), plus Natural Resistance and Farewell to Patricia!
New Wines -a-coming-around-the-corner Gilles Azam, Domaine Les Hautes-Terres – delicious Limoux Chardonnay and a Crémant made from Chenin, Mauzac and Chardonnay called Josephine. Organic wines from beautifully farmed organic vineyards.…
Oregon, not forgotten: A report on the Wines of Oregon Tasting
...at One Great George Street. Up the sweep of the grand staircase into the cathedral-like Great Hall, beneath the unfeasibly huge pineal chandelier and underneath the stern gaze of bushy-faced…
Beware Natural Wines
It is a truth universally acknowledged: there is no such thing as natural wine. This is because it is self-evident that nature does not make the wine, but man does.…
Words to the Wine: Part Two
More twinkling English dialect words that might invigorate the tedious repetitions and formulations of wine-tasting descriptions. I’m not saying that they are remotely appropriate or that you have to use…
Chatting with: Christian Tschida
Winemaker, farmer, vigneron – how do you see your role? Is there an Austrian word or expression that captures the work that you do? Way more farmer than winemaker. I…
Ganbrukenjouillon at The Remedy!
Jurassic Bottle Bonanza The pleasure of wine is amplified when it is shared with friends and fellow-enthusiasts. A bevy of Jurassic bottles had been gathering considerable quantities of dust (testament…
Shock News: Les Caves sells Burgundies
Ever heard the following exchange? Where are you going today? We’re going to the Les Caves de Pyrene en primeur Burgundy tasting. I hear that they have an amazing range…
The Eagles have landed…again
New Wines! Kelley Fox Her new wine, Ahurani Pinot Noir, comes from grapes harvested in the biodynamic Momtazi vineyard. We love the label which illustrates the teeming diversity of wild…
Chatting with: Heidi Nam Knudsen of the Ottolenghi Group
Heidi Nam Knudsen is the wine-buyer for the Ottolenghi group and General Manager of Nopi restaurant. Why wine? How did you get your start? I was always fascinated by mixing flavours…
Viñateros Wows The Wine Trade!
Viñateros, a tasting of the best of Spanish artisan wines, presented by the producers themselves, took place on Tuesday 21st February at Switch House at The Tate Modern Gallery in…
A Northern Italian Voyage
This fantastic videologue was made by Benoit from Adam's Restaurant in Birmingham, who took part in our recent "Deep North" trip, visiting some of our talented northern Italian growers (1701 Franciacorta,…
Ditch the Dishwater
Was it Mariah Carey in We Belong Together (remix, feat. Jadakiss and Sty) who extolled the great PG: Big cups, Pinot Grigio Take it easy, yo No, we don’t yo…
An Evening with Jean-Pierre Frick: Fresh Air in the Natural Wine Debate
I was fortunate enough to attend a wine dinner at Terroirs Wine Bar hosted Jean-Pierre Frick who has written a book called Du Vin, De l’Air. This slim but beautifully-presented…
Meet the Austrians at the Real Wine Fair 2017
The Real Wine Fair is pleased to welcome a host of great growers from Austria for our 2017 event. Austrian wines are establishing a reputation throughout the world for their…
Doug Decants: The natural Burgundies of Domaine Ballorin and other news!
Focus on… The natural Burgundies of Domaine Ballorin Gilles wines are avowedly natural – organic and biodynamically farmed vineyards, ambient ferments with indigenous yeasts in resin-coated vats and stainless steel…
Autochthonous
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…
Dial N for Overkill
“When first the crocus thrusts its point of gold/Up through the still snow-drifted garden mound”, then the world of wine suffers a peculiar invasion of bodysnatchers, wherein seemingly rational upstanding…
The Future’s Bright, The Future’s Orange
An appreciation of the Don’s alternative reality "During a rally in Florida yesterday Donald Trump boasted about his plans for ISIS and said he will “be their worst nightmare.”…
Chatting with: Amaya Cervera
Spanish wine expert Amaya Cervera runs the website Spanish Wine Lover. She is a passionate spokesperson for wines from her home country, as well as being successful wine journalist. Amaya…
Les Caves’s Relative Success and The Infinite Improbability Drive
Lovely article by way of interview by Andrew Jefford in Decanter detailing the unorthodox journey of Les Caves de Pyrene, how we ascended from the depths of rank amateurism (or…
Wine Writing for Antiquity and The Humdrum Reality
From Ode to Wine – Pablo Neruda Day-coloured wine, night-coloured wine, wine with purple feet or wine with topaz blood, wine, starry child of earth, wine, smooth as a golden…
Drink good wine, not rocket fuel, which is not rocket science.
My modest proposal is to ask anyone who is involved in the wine trade, be they importers or retailers, sommeliers or bloggers, to take a step back from what they…
Chatting with: Matthew Rorick of Forlorn Hope Wines, California
"At Matthew Rorick Wines, we love the longshots. We love the outsiders, the lost causes, the people/projects/ideas abandoned as not having a chance in the world. Rare creatures from appellations…
Doug Decants: New wines from Arbois, South Africa, and Itata!
Recently Arrivals Nom d’Un Nom d’un Nom d’Un Chien! Playful names to play with: 2015 Straight No Chaser, Hughes Beguet Superb value Arbois blend of Chardonnay and Savagnin from Patrice…
Bad Moon Rising
I’m not sure which day on the Marie Thun calendar the treatise Expectation or Sensorial Reality? An Empirical Investigation of the Biodynamic Calendar for Wine Drinkers…,by Wendy V. Parr, Dominique…
Fashionable debunking and the over-appliance of science
Ignoramus et ignorabimus Over the past few years we have seen numerous attempts to debunk the rationale behind concepts such as biodynamics, terroir, natural wines and minerality. The spirit of…
The Thin Veneer of Civility: Non-Wine Thoughts for 2017
--by Doug Wregg We are puppets, Man in his pride, and Beauty fair in her flower; Do we move ourselves, or are moved by an unseen hand at a game…
Christmas Wines!
The perfect wines to crack open this holiday season:BUBBLES Val Frison Lalore Blanc de Blancs, Champagne Because you’re special: Lalore is Val Frison’s pure Chardonnay from the Aube – its…
2016 in a grape pip
Brief remembrance of wine times past… It was the worst of times, it was the best of wines. The biggest ever Real Wine Fair took place in April 2016, 160…
Real Reasons To Be Cheerful – 2017
We’ve all had more than enough of 2016, so let’s look forward to next year and celebrate the impending return of the Real Wine Fair in May 2017. This event…
Nuggetorials #4: The GROSS profit margin
It is truth universally acknowledged but rarely articulated in the trade that a systematic one-size-fits-all % increase is grossly unfair and penalises adventurous drinking. Not only it is counter-intuitive as…
Doug Decants: Italy (Valtellina, Dolomites, Lazio) & Spain (Asturias, Calatayud, Rioja) + more!
As the crazy people of the UK were voting to row away from our continental cousin, we were scouring their vineyards for more goodies. At least if we are going…
Nuggetorials #3: Restaurant reviews and Cooking with sulphur
Restaurant Reviews and the curious case of the missing wine: One might imagine that food and wine were mutually inclusive when describing an experience in a restaurant. If you were…
Nuggetorials #2: Food and wine rules – Not OK
An example of early food and wine matching advice from a wine merchant in (the caves of) Lascaux: Bison with white wine, Mastodon with red wine. --Oberon Kant’s Big Book…
Intimations of Wine Immortality: A Fantastic Five of Rare Wine Beasts
There are wines which are so rare because to make them requires nature to smile on the vineyard and for the vigneron still to feel that the quality of the…
Nuggetorials #1: The banality of wine language
Could the language of wine commerce be any more banal? No, it really couldn’t. From “gatekeepers” through “channel management” to “segmentation” and all those other banal buzzwords bombinating in the…
Doug Decants: Austrian Pet Nats, Stellar Burgundy, and Amphora
New arrivals: Fuchs und Hase Pet Nats in Three Volumes Tis the season to be petty and natty. Weingut Fuchs und Hase (Fox and Hare) is a joint project…
Sauvign-oak?
Victoria Moore's recent article in the Telegraph on oaked Sauvignon Blanc made us think that a blog post on the subject was overdue. So here're our two cents: Most commercial…
Real Pagne or Sham Pagne
Can there be such a thing as a natural champagne? Champagne is not only a region but a specific method of winemaking predicated on certain procedures. The main manipulation is…
Slovenia: The Small Country with the Big Wine Culture – Part Three
Biodynamic diversions A Wreath of Sonnets, by France Preseren (one of Slovenia’s great poets): Send but your rays their glory to renew And let me not look for dawn's light…
Slovenia: The Small Country with the Big Wine Culture – Part Two
Valter’s wine press – hot off the press. Valter Mlecnik The Mlecnik 9ha farm, situated on western end of the Vipava valley, is planted to Chardonnay, Rebula, Sauvignonasse (ex-Tocai Friulano),…
Slovenia: the small country with the big wine culture – Part One
A topographical, historico-cultural, vinological account of a swift trip to Slovenia, a small but vital country situated in southern Central Europe located at the crossroads of main European cultural and trade routes,…
Bang for Your Buck Tasting Reviewed
Our Bang for Your Buck tasting was held last week in the Music Room of some rather grand edifice on Carlton House Terrace SW1, arguably the only event in this…
Doug Decants: Burgenland & Oregon
Focus on: The very good burghers of Burgenland - Andert-Wein PM? Pull the Andert one. They call it Puligny-Montrachet, or PM for short, we call it wine of grape variety of…
The New Eagles Have Landed: Part Two – California
Welcome to our Hotel California, not a palatial guest house, more of a rusty lean-to out back. The philosophy of the growers that we deal with might best be summarised…
The New Eagles Have Landed: Part One – Oregon
In my buyer’s backpack I carry a compass which points to magnetic craziness. The wines don’t have to be madly, badly DJ Funkosaurus in the wilderness. They can be beautiful…
Words To The Wine
“I begin to long for some little language such as lovers use, broken words, inarticulate words, like the shuffling of feet on pavement.” ~ Virginia Woolf Plundering the pornucopia of…
Doug Decants: Valtellina, a Trio of West Aussies, and Sherry
NEW WINES Les Chiavs de Pyrene have moved into Valtellina Balgera is a boutique winery located in Chiuro, one of the wine growing villages of Valtellina area, in the region…
Artisans of Oz: a round up
And so to the land of Bansky murals, and enough hipsters and bearded baristas to make AA Gill expel the plums moulded to his mouth and break out in hives.…
Drinking Wine, Not Ideology
Simon Woolf’s piece on natural wine in Meininger caused another minor kerfuffle in a carafe in the oenosphere. These articles are always timely in that even though they are written with…
Tasting No-Notes
I stopped writing tasting notes years ago – not sure whether it was out of laziness or ennui, or whether it suddenly simply seemed trite to reduce a wine to…
When the Wine Tastes You
What are the most important factors that affect the way you taste wine? Is it the inherent quality of the wine itself and its potential to communicate itself lucidly? Do…
Wine and The Golden Rule of Business
It’s not just dog eat dog. It’s dog doesn’t return other dog’s phone calls. (Woody Allen) Morals? Can’t afford them guv’nor. (Alfred Doolittle, Pygmalion – George Bernard Shaw) Those are…
A Treading of Grapes
For all our friends in the northern hemisphere who are gathering grapes in vineyards or toiling in their cellars… The Vine – ‘Cometh the full grape cluster on the vine.…
Upcoming Tastings: September/October 2016
Sherry Amour – Trade tasting Date: Monday 12th September 2016 Time: 10.30am - 5.00pm Venue: OXO2, Bargehouse Street, London, SE1 9PH Catch up with Les Cavistes on table 17 where…
Coming soon…Another Occhipinti – no, Andrea Occhipinti
This estate is based on the slopes surrounding the Volcanic lake of Bolsena; the region is part of Maremma (called “Tuscia” in Lazio), about 15 minutes’ drive from the Tuscan…
Six September Recommendations
September, officially the beginning of autumn… Summer ends now; now, barbarous in beauty, the Stooks arise Around; up above, what wind-walks! what lovely behaviour Of silk-sack clouds! Has wilder, willful-waiver …
More Natural Nomenclature
Non-Definitive Definitions Natural wine, as I may have previously written ad nauseam, is a relative term, embracing a wide variety of criteria. Nevertheless we might broadly agree on those specific…
Var Var Voom: Meeting Jean-Christophe Comor of Les Terres Promises, Provence
Provence is without doubt a spectacularly beautiful region of France speckled with myriad vineyards. Yet, as regional French specialists, we have always struggled to discover captivating terroir-driven wines outside the…
The Vermont Vintner: 32 hours with America’s most unlikely winemaker
-by Christina Pickard Note: a version of this piece originally appeared on Food & Wine. “Most of my stories start with this notion, ‘I never imagined...,’ or ‘Twenty years ago, I never…
Real Wine Fair Videos: Thierry Puzelat
One of the natural wine world's most beloved figures, Thierry Puzelat has been making wine au naturel in the Cheverny and Touraine appellations of the Loire Valley for over two decades, although…
For the Love of Wine
I proffer this as a thought - wine possesses its greatest value when it is made with love and for love, when it is made with all humility, when it…
Chatting with: Franz Strohmeier
Franz Strohmeier makes wine in what is considered the most difficult, yet also the most historic, region of Austria: West Styria. A true steward of the land, Strohmeier's relentless TLC in…
Doug Decants: Bernabe is back, New Radelaide Wines, and a Comment on Competitions
Decanting Cava Acequion, Rafa Bernabe The best things come to he who waits. And waits. And this pet nat kept us, and Rafa Bernabe, waiting. Unlike jam tomorrow, it eventually…
The Pyrenees Go to Austria: The Final Day – Michael Andert & Judith Beck
Breakfast in the vines with Michael Andert Michael Andert was born into a large family and grew up on a farm with mixed agriculture, livestock and viticulture. He learned to…
Real Wine Fair videos: Anna Martens
Vino di Anna is a small, two hectare property run and managed by Australian winemaker Anna Martens along with Les Caves de Pyrene's Grand Fromage, Eric Narioo, on the north…
2016…..so far! Look back in languor.
As we get summery in dear old Blighty here is a summary of 2016 so far... Gimme skin (contact) Oranges may not be the only fruit (grapes are!), nor the…
The Pyrenees Go to Austria: Day 4 – Andreas Tscheppe
Dragonflies, Stag Beetles, Salamanders and Butterflies Andreas Tscheppe is part of the Styrian quintet of vignerons called Schmeck das Leben (Taste of Life). He has small vineyard parcels in a…
Doug Decants: Champers, Jura-tastic, a raft of Rafas, & wonders from the New World
Focus on Champagne Marie-Courtin Champagne Marie Courtin is located in the village of Polisot in the Côte des Bars, in the southern part of the Champagne region. With its slightly…
Three De-Gris from NZ
New Zealand is viewed by many and sundry as the Land of the Long White Sauvignon, a drink on the river gravel rocks topped with mint and elderflower pressé. Les…
An Audience with Pierre Overnoy and Emmanuel Houillon
...at Terroirs Wine Bar In the quiet village of Pupillin just north of Arbois is a sign beside the road that proudly announces: 'World Capital of Ploussard'. It was vigneron Pierre…
The Pyrenees Go to Austria: Day 3 – Sepp Muster
We arrived at Sepp and Maria Muster’s beautiful house in Leutschach, southern Styria in the early evening with the weather just beginning to turn. The vineyards were in fine fettle.…
Doug Decants: Domain Yoyo, Austrian Belle Naturelle, Barbera-ians, & sans soufre Cru Beaujolais
Not another Cru Beaujolais! Fleurie, Clos de la Grand Cour (sans soufre, natch) The estate of Domaine de la Grand Cour dates back to 1969 when it was purchased by…
If it ain’t broke don’t Brexit
Monsieur/Signor Wregg weighs in on Brexit; viewpoints are his own and not representative of Les Caves de Pyrene as a whole. * You will have read reams on this subject and experienced…