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Some wine in a glass

Preview: Northumbria Food and Wine Festival Sep 23 2011

THE North East is an exciting place for wine lovers. We have a clutch of first-rate independent merchants and importers; imaginative chefs who really care about matching fine food and wine and an increasing number of opportunities to taste wine and learn more about it.Read

Chateau Corbiac in France

French vineyard Chateau Corbiac bringing wine to your door Sep 16 2011

A LOT of great wines aren’t available here. Every now and then I can’t resist the temptation to write about one or two of them, but it feels kind of mean.Read

Clos Bregeot vineyards

Reaping rewards of a bulldog spirit Sep 09 2011

THERE are easier places to grow vines than northern Creuse. It’s an extremely beautiful part of Central France, with green hills, woods and rolling pastures where prize Limousin beef cattle graze contentedly; but at more than 1000ft above sea-level, the climate can be harsh.Read

Valerie Jammet picking Chardonnay grapes

Team discovers the fruits of their labour Sep 02 2011

FRANCE was not spared the cool wet weather that made much of July such a misery here, but it hasn’t prevented the earliest grape harvest in living memory. It began officially in Champagne on August 20, only equalled in 1822. Pierre Larmandier, my favourite Champagne producer, who pays enormous attention-to- detail and will only harvest when he feels conditions are right, emailed me to say they hoped to begin on August 27.Read

Etienne de Resseguier, the enthusiastic young export director of Plaimont wines

Brandy makers in Cognac and Armagnac diversify into table wines Aug 26 2011

THE rolling hills of Gascony, as my friend Etienne de Resseguier delights in calling them, are a land of sunflowers, ducks, corn and vines, to which the high Pyrenees form a dramatic backdrop to the south.Read

Christophe Cordier's cellars

A taste of something new on the grapevine Aug 19 2011

THE vineyards close to the town of Mâcon in southern Burgundy are the source of cheap, cheerful and very acceptable white wine.Read

Champagne lifestyle

Crémant d’Alsace is alternative to Champagne Aug 12 2011

IF the French can’t afford Champagne they’re more than likely to pop the cork of a bottle of Crémant d’Alsace.Read

Northumbrian Wine

Northumbrian Wine bears fruit in North East Aug 05 2011

I KNOW how difficult it is to grow grapes in Northumberland. Some 20 years ago I planted a tiny vineyard in Bedlington. The vines looked lovely and produced lots of lush green leaves, but as soon as the fruit began to set it was greedily devoured by the birds.Read

A woman drinking a glass of wine

Rich palette benefits winemakers Jul 29 2011

HIGH on a cliff above the mighty Douro, a small chapel is testament to the days when the transport of pipes of young port wine down river was such a hazardous task that it was only attempted by men who knew that their womenfolk were on their knees praying for their safety.Read

Bock's superb new winery restaurant and and guest house

Thirst for good old fruity red wine from Hungary Jul 22 2011

MY WELL-THUMBED copy of the 1978 Good Wine Guide reveals the most widely available red wine in the country at that time was Bull’s Blood, from Hungary.Read

Vineyards at Chateau Hermitage Saint Martin

Granite is bedrock of success for Hermitage vineyard Jul 15 2011

HERMITAGE is the most magnificent vineyard in France. It rises high above the River Rhône and traps all the warmth of the sun on its steep, south-facing, granite slopes.Read

Some Rosé wine

Things are looking quite rosé for an historic estate Jul 08 2011

THERE are two ways of making rosé. Both are designed to extract just enough colour from the skins of red grapes to stain the juice pink and to impart flavour to the wine.Read

Louis Jadots state-of-the-art winery in Beaune, one of the bigger merchant houses for Burgundy wine

Big is still beautiful when it comes to Burgundy Jul 01 2011

GENERALLY speaking, I find that the most exciting Burgundy wines are made by small, independent producers.Read

Irene and Patrick Johner of the Johner Winery

Inter-continental wine makers Jun 24 2011

THERE can be few finer places to sample wine than the Johner family’s purpose-built tasting room at Bischoffingen, overlooking the vineyards of the Kaiserstuhl, near Freiburg in the Baden region of southern Germany.Read

A person holding a glass of wine

Ara chief winemaker tells of role at Marlborough vineyard Jun 17 2011

JEFF Clarke, a quietly-spoken Aussie, is the new chief winemaker of Ara, a high- quality single vineyard estate in Marlborough on the northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island.Read

Try before you buy Jun 10 2011

AS I pretend to watch very little daytime television, I’m not sure if the catchphrase ‘try before you buy’ is still current, but if it’s right for house purchases it’s surely even more appropriate for wine.Read

The Domaine Nicole vineyard in France

Bottling spirit of the countryside Jun 03 2011

PAUL Mas is a wine business that in 10 short years has become one of the most successful in France – despite being based in a region where most growers struggle even to survive.Read

Sherry

Get what you paid for May 27 2011

A FRIEND brought four bottles of very expensive claret for me to try. He’d bought half a dozen and was bothered that the first two tasted funny. We opened the rest, one by one.Read

Sign outside the Domaine de Bellevue vineyards

Domaine de Bellevue welcomes English visitors May 20 2011

I HAD driven past the Domaine de Bellevue many times and noticed its smart modern cellars and neat vineyards set in a sea of telegraph poles.Read

Flower trusses on the vines at Domaine des Eyssards

No secret to Pascal Cuisset’s winemaking success May 13 2011

PASCAL Cuisset’s philosophy is “Enjoy life, make good wine and relax”. Not only does he make very good wine, he’s also succeeded in doing what few independent winemakers in Bergerac have managed – he sells quite a lot of it in the UK.Read

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