HomeTasteColumnistsHelen Savage

Message in a bottle on Fairtrade offerings

JUST like handbags and sunglasses, wine has its designer labels. Malcolm Gluck tells the story of a wine importer from Singapore, who having splashed out £5,000 for a bottle of Chateau Petrus, made sure that it was prominently displayed on his table, but then proceeded to ‘enhance’ his glass with Pepsi. He admitted, Malcolm relates, to not liking the taste of red wine. Read

Sicily keeps getting better

SICILY produces a lot of wine, nearly as much as Portugal, but it’s largely nothing to write home about. Read

France’s best-kept secret

ONE of the world’s biggest vineyards spreads north from the broad estuary of the Gironde in the Charentes region of western France. Read

The marvellous Muscat stands true test of time

MUSCAT is one of the greatest grape varieties and certainly one of the most ancient. Its origins are probably Mediterranean, where it still thrives. It is almost certainly a variety known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as being as attractive to bees as to humans. Read

Have we found the Holy Grail of wine industry?

PINOT Noir is the Holy Grail of the wine industry. The great black grape from Burgundy is so difficult to get right, but its best wines are incomparably delicious. Because good Pinot Noir is in short supply it can be expensive. It’s no surprise that this has driven grape growers the world over to see if they can come up with the goods. Read

Greeks make the earth move

I WAS ready to be impressed, but the earth really did move for me when I went to Greece a fortnight ago to visit vineyards in the western Peloponnese and the biennial national Greek wine fair – Oenorama – in Athens. Read

Cool white that’s still got plenty going for it

HAS Chardonnay had its place in the sun? Around the world, its stock has fallen so low that some wine lovers delight in asking for ABC – anything but Chardonnay. Read

Roll out the barrel - oak for preference

TESCO’S Spring Wine Festival has just begun with massive reductions on around 120 wines. Read

Jasnières is a Loire unto itself

THE biggest river in France is the Loire – La Loire. One of its many tributaries is, most confusingly, Le Loir. Read

Home brewing still passes test

THERE’S a little red book on my shelves. Published over a quarter of a century ago, First Steps in Winemaking by CJJ Berry is packed with sound advice. Read

World-class small producers

THE range of wines offered by some local independent merchants is as big as anything you’ll find in the major supermarkets and often much more interesting, with a good selection of often hand-crafted wines from quirky producers that are available only in very limited quantities. Read

German wines pass taste test

GERMANY exports more wine to the UK than any other country, but it’s mostly the cheapest plonk that we can get our hands on. Read

Organic joins the mainstream

Research carried out for the drinks trade magazine, Off Licence News, shows that sales of organic and biodynamic wine is a huge growth area for independent wine retailers. Read

Quality is no longer a lottery

WE ALL have gaps in our knowledge. One of mine is called Portugal. This is odd in a way, for the very first glass of wine I ever drank was Portuguese. It was Mateus Rosé, and I was 11. As a special Boxing Day treat I was allowed a thimbleful to help wash down my cold turkey and pickles. I felt ever so sophisticated. Read

Go native for a quality quaff

ENGLISH wine growers have just celebrated a very happy Christmas. Not only did they enjoy a huge hike in sales over the run-up to the festivities, but they were handed a timely present on December 19 in the form of an official exclusion by the European Union from reforms which would have prevented any new vineyards being planted in the UK. Read

Less alcohol means more taste

WINE Australia, the industry’s main promo- tional body, marks their national day each year (January 26) with major wine tastings in London and Edinburgh. Read

Cahors – a liquid of distinction

IT used to be called “black wine”. In the 13th Century Cahors already had a reputation in London as a big, blokey red (to this day, there’s no pink or white Cahors). Read

A Burgundy showcase

THERE’S something decidedly sexy about good red Burgundy. Its rich red colour has an invitingly luminous quality; it smells of softly ripe red fruits, with a hint of spice and the subtle bouquet of violets; and then it slides down with a silky, seductive texture and the grown-up flavour of morello cherries in alcohol. Read

Provence is in the pink

SOME regions are famous for red wine, others for white; not many specialise in rosé. The small appellation of Tavel in the southern Rhone Valley is alone in being uniquely pink (if the growers there make red or white wine it’s sold as Lirac). Read

How Red is our valley?

TURN up at just about any restaurant in France and you’ll find Côtes du Rhône on the wine list. Usually – if it’s red – it’s cheap, cheerful and fruity. Nothing special, but a good reliable bet. Read

Culture

Culture magazine May 2008

Culture - May

The May edition of Culture magazine is out now, packed with all the latest arts, theatre and music highlights.Read

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