Category: Wine - Page 7

Mead Glorious Mead

And for those of you who missed it, here’s the link to my interview with Jeremy Dodge about the Cypress Hills, Bushwakker, and Chinook Arch Mead. This is merely a starting point for the wonderful world of mead. Californian wineries are making sparkling and dry old meads. (Mead will cellar for decades apparently.) Braggot, or… Continue reading Mead Glorious Mead

Code 38: The World’s Best Corkscrew

How on earth do you pay $300 for a corkscrew? Easy. You want a good one. (You can pay $500 if you want both good and stylish.) You can probably do a museum history of my life in corkscrews. But $300?? I mean I’ve opened wine with everything up to and including a Bic Pen.… Continue reading Code 38: The World’s Best Corkscrew

Bad Ego, Bad Science Bad Wine Ratings

Last June,The Guardian newspaper posted a story about the inaccuracy of wine ratings, specifically the inaccuracy of tasters’ – trained tasters, professionals – ratings. So far, rather to my amusement the article and the research behind it has been greeted by stony silence from wine writers. To be brief here are the facts: – the… Continue reading Bad Ego, Bad Science Bad Wine Ratings

Recorking Sparkling Wine

“How can I recork sparkling wine and champagne when I don’t finish the bottle?” Ah the eternal lament. Theoretically I should be using stoppers all the time given how much of the stuff I drink; factually it is seldom a problem as the bottles always seem to magically empty themselves. Here is a selection of… Continue reading Recorking Sparkling Wine

Craggy Range Te Kahu 2010

I had a very long day, in emergency with my father. While the staff at the Victoria General were helpful and professional such visits are never enjoyable, and this one ended badly. I got home and started warming my dinner, a chicken pancetta dish of mine, a variation on chicken cacciatore that I had made… Continue reading Craggy Range Te Kahu 2010