Wine Tasting Video: Spanish Reds – Manchuela, Yecla & Priorat
Cien Y Pico ‘Doble Pasta’ Tintorera 2009, Manchuela (£11.99 Liberty Wines) Really can’t work out whether I like this wine. I can’t fault its richness – it’s full throttle, deep inky wine packed with slightly baked/jammy dark berry fruit, b...
Pizza and BBQ Ribs and Wine
Pizza and barbecue ribs don’t have much in common; the first is a form of savory flatbread, while the second is pure meat and bones; the first cooks quickly, the second luxuriates in long, slow heat. Of course pizza often has some form of meat as a topping (certainly the case at my house; I...
Friday Wine Sips: Ribera del Duero
The vineyard and wine-making region of Ribera del Duero lies on the vast plateau of north-central Spain, athwart the Duero River in the province of Castilla y Leon. The principal grape is Spain’s most famous, the red tempranillo, known, however, in Ribera del Duero as tinto fino. Tempranillo is also the primary grape of Rioja,...
Wines of Navarra, more than just rosado wine
I’m quite familiar with the wines of Navarra, they’re all about rosé wines, right? Yes and no. Turns out there’s a lot more to the region then their robustly coloured rosado wines. The Wines of Navarra were in town last week to promo...
Latest podcast- Japanese koshu, Rioja and the wines of Navarra
This episode features one of Japan’s few female winemakers, Ayana Misawa, 5th generation winemaker for Grace winery (“Chuo Budoshu” in Japanese). I met Ayana at the annual Koshu of Japan tasting, held in London in late February 2012 and she s...
Drink Ribera Grand Tasting 2012 NYC
Fabulous tasting of several Ribera del Duero wines today at the sleek Trump tower downtown. Pictured above is Javier Aladro, winemaker at Valdubon located near the town Milagros in Ribera del Duero -- I had visited Javier a few years before to discover how he made his excellent wines. It was great to see the...
An Affordable Rioja with a Little age
Rush right out and buy a few bottles of this wonderfully appealing yet suitably serious example of Rioja, from Spain’s most renowned wine region. Burgo Viejo Reserva 2006, Rioja, was produced by a cooperative established by six families in 1987, since grown to 16 families. Altogether, they draw on 494 acres of vineyards, the majority...
Wine Tasting Video: Spanish Reds from Valdepenas & Somontano
Anciano Aged 3 Years Crianza 2007, Valdepeñas (£5.98 Asda) Starts off well with welcoming characters of slightly baked berry fruit, dusty vanilla and chocolate, but is let down by a slightly hard finish. B- Anciano Aged 7 Years Gran Reserva 2003, Val...
Goodbye 2011, Hello Future
Today seems to be the day we say goodbye for good. Seems logical to end it all on the last day of 2011. The journey has been fun, but in reality, it’s only just begun. We’ve just arrived back after a week in the UK with family and friends, filled with good wines and festive...
