380. Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Bougros, 1999
Arse, arse, arse, arse. Getting this label off proved possible, only for it to disintegrate on touch. That more-or-less topped-off an end-to-end bad news …
379. Domaine Billaud-Simon, Chablis, 2005
After putting this into the 2nd Optimor case, I then tasted it at the POTG annual tasting and got nervous, because it was very …
378. Champagne Eric Taillet, Brut Tradition, NV (2007)
Picked up by Sven from Planet of the Grapes, to celebrate his wedding with the rest of the office, and a very pleasant find. …
377. Paul Jaboulet Aîné, Hermitage La Chapelle, 1998
From a renowned year, but reports of La Chapelle being off-form between ’96 and 2002 had lowered my expectations far enough that I didn’t …
376. Domaine Lagrezette, Château Lagrezette Cru d’Exception Cahors, 2001
The second – and best – of what was ultimately an 0-3 poor showing of wines I’d taken to Janet & Steve’s in France. …
Klein Constantia: stellar whites, sweet and dry
Klein Constantia is perhaps the most recognised name in the Constantia region. That is particularly as a result of their rejuvenation of the historic …
Marqués de Riscal: Gehry hotel outshining solid Rioja and Rueda
Marqués de Riscal is a long-established, prominent bodega in the Rioja Alavesa village of Elciego, 20 minutes’ drive West of Logroño. At 5m bottles …
La Rioja Alta: benchmark classical Riojas especially top flight Gran Reservas
La Rioja Alta, established in Haro in 1890, is certainly one of the major players in high quality, traditionally-styled Rioja. In their top pair …
Marqués de Murrieta: Rioja aristocracy built around Castillo Ygay
There are many Rioja bodegas with the vaunted title Marqués in their name – Riscal, Cacéres, Concordia inter alia. In the UK, those of …
CVNE: Combining volume and classical quality
CVNE, the Compania Vinicola del Norte de España, is popularly known as Cune (‘koo-nay’) in Spain – so much so that they adopted Cune …