Blog
Discovering Luberon and Costières de Nîmes in the Rhône Valley
At the southernmost part of the Rhône, either side of the valley, you’ll find the appellations of Luberon and Costières de Nîmes. Luberon is on the east side, wedged between Ventoux and Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence, and Costières de Nîmes is on the west side, right at the tip of the Southern Rhône, bordering on the Languedoc.
Domaine de l’Arlot Tasting with Geraldine Godot
A couple of weeks ago I was invited to a very special tasting and lunch held at Cabotte restaurant. Geraldine Godot, Technical Director and Winemaker at Domaine de l’Arlot, along with Managing Director, Christian Seely, presented her wines for the first time to the UK press, taking us through five years of wines she has made from Clos de l’Arlot, Clos des Forets Saint Georges, Vosne Romanée les Suchots and Romanée Saint Vivant.
The Rosé Wines of Provence: The colour might be pale, but these wines have depth
There is a feeling associated with the Vins de Provence wine region and nothing else seems to sum it up better than the expression, “joie-de-vivre”. It’s the relaxed glamour of a white shirt billowing in the breeze, lazily buttoned in two places down the front. It’s an elbow propped on a table with a hand hanging in the air like an unfinished sentence. Blow-dried hair pushed off the face with huge, round sunglasses and a long, contented sigh.
Wednesday Wine Women: @masdeladame
Anne Poniatowski and Caroline Missoffe, two sisters, decided in 1995 to leave Paris and come back to the family vineyard, becoming the 4th generation at Mas de la Dame.
Exploring Cru Bourgeois du Médoc Wines
Médoc is an appellation prized for producing characterful red wines of excellent value that are accessible, reliable and most of all - enjoyable.
The Cru Bourgeois classification is the promise of expertise and high-quality standards from passionate winegrowers and makers, working towards a sustainable future that champions the quality and essence of the place the vines call their home.
Kylie Minogue 2020 Côtes du Provence Rosé
Celeb wines do bring something valuable to the wine trade – and that’s their fans. An excited, engaged, bustling marketplace is good for everybody and these wines will be the catalyst for opening up the world of wine for many consumers. Kylie has one of the most popular wine ranges at Morrisons, where her 2020 Côtes de Provence rosé will be stocked exclusively.
A Tour of Provence with Château Léoube
It was in the summer of 1997 when the Bamfords (from the Cotswolds in England) first set eyes on Château Léoube in Provence. If its scenic beauty is anything to go by, it must have been love at first sight. The image of rusty orange earth, blanketed by lush vegetation, meeting the expanse of blue ocean calms me, even from the page I’m looking at. I am reminded of the utopian Tracy Island from Thunderbirds, as I study the crowd of umbrella pines on the peninsula, seeing how they lean over the edge, peering curiously into the sea. I’m sure if that was the view before my eyes, my heart would have skipped a beat too.
KEEPING WARM WITH RASTEAU WINE
Rasteau produces dry and fortified red wines made from Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre (sometimes Carignan and other additional varieties too, in small amounts). This year, the appellation is celebrating 10 years as a Cru of the Côtes du Rhône, the highest accolade given within the region. It’s a badge of honour, which recognises Rasteau’s distinctive terroir and high quality production.
Sparkling Wine From Italy and Around the World: Your Ultimate Guide (Including Recommendations from 6 Masters of Wine)
Whether it’s sparkling wine from Italy, France, USA, South Africa, it’s official: we love our bubbly. Sparkling wine sales now account for some 10% of all wine sales globally, meaning we are consuming approximately 2.5 billion litres of fizz every year. This figure is only set to increase, as more and more consumers become interested in premium wines. If there are bubbles to pop, we are popping them!
This is your ultimate guide for sparkling wine from Italy and beyond. Strap in - it’s going to be a bubbly ride.
How To Create The Perfect French Picnic
I don’t know about you, but I love eating and drinking outside in the summertime. The French are undoubtedly the masters of this, with their fresh baguettes, delicious charcuterie and, of course, their mouthwatering wines. Originally, a pique-nique referred to a group of people in a restaurant who brought their own wine, but then it developed to mean a dining setting where everyone brought a little something to nibble on and share.
'What is Provence to you?', asks Château Gassier with their new Esprit Gassier 2019 vintage
Provence rosé is undoubtedly a style, but within that style, you have a sea of different expressions. This is no one-dimensional wine. You have the fun, flirty, pink-frilly-knickers kind; you have the fresh, racy, sea winds whipping-your-hair-back-and-forth kind; you have the classy, exquisitely-mannered kind, with hidden mineral depths. Esprit Gassier 2019 can be all things to all, but to me, it is the latter.
Could adopting a vine with Cuvée Privée be the transparency wine consumers are looking for?
There has become a common theme in the wine industry in recent years, from the labelling of wine to asking to know exactly how the wine was made: transparency. Consumers want to know what has gone into their bottle - whether or not the grapes were grown organically; how exactly was the wine filtered, using which fining agents; who picks the grapes and are they paid fairly; what chemical processes were used in the vineyard and in the winery (- and I am allergic to them?) ...on and on. As well as what is in our wine and what we are putting into our bodies, marketeers know, more than ever, that ‘story’ is vital. Millennials, more than any other age group before, are most likely to become loyal to a product or brand, because of the story behind it - and it had better be honest. In a world where we often feel we are losing personal connection, young consumers (in particular) want to relate to the brands they support - they want to connect. With a level of choice out there growing year on year, we want to choose things in our lives that speak to us authentically and represent us on a personal level.
Berrilicious Bordeaux Rosé
As the springtime sunshine continues to stick around, we continue to think and drink pink. Scrolling through Instagram, you’d be forgiven for thinking that there was some unwritten law somewhere that tells us that sunny days are rosé days. And if you take a look at my Instagram feed, you’ll see that I am most definitely a law-abiding citizen.
Like the rest of the world, I love Provence rosé. I love the dryness, the lightweight texture, the white peaches and the watermelon. But I’m making an effort to look beyond the South of France to see what the rest of the world is offering and I've decided to head west - about 750km from Provence - to Bordeaux.
Château de Pommard: Future-thinking for Burgundy
Last week, I had an engaging lunch with Michael Baum, CEO and propriétaire of Chateau de Pommard in Burgundy. Château de Pommard was founded in 1726 and the property comprises of two châteaux (Château Marey-Monge and Château Micault) and their famous UNESCO-protected walled vineyard, Clos Marey-Monge. These 20 hectares of vines have produced some of the greatest Pinot Noir for over two millennia. The Carabello-Baum family from San Francisco bought the estate in 2014 and have become the first Americans to own a wine-producing Château in Burgundy.
Flint Wines 2018 Burgundy En Primeur
En Primeur is the practice of buying wine when it is still in the barrel. This is appealing to fine wine buyers and enthusiasts because it is a way of guaranteeing access to a portion of wine that will be in high demand when it is released, which will also more than likely rise in price as it matures – so there is the financial benefit too, as well as bragging rights.
I write this post armed with some bragging rights myself, as I was able to taste some En Primeur Burgundies earlier this month at the Flint Wines 2018 Burgundy En Primeur Tasting held at One Whitehall Place. While En Primeur is something that originated in Bordeaux, it has something that has become increasing relevant in Burgundy, the Rhône and the States, due to rising demand for these wines.
Anne La Naour: A new era for CA Grand Crus
It’s a new era for CA Grand Crus (administrators of several Bordeaux and Burgundy vineyards owned by the Credit Agricole Group), with recently appointed Anne La Naour at the helm as Executive Director. Alongside Jean-Philippe Archambault, Director of Santenay in Burgundy, she is bringing a fresh vision to the estates and has sold two properties in Bordeaux in order to open up opportunities to work with new places and people. Anne is leading the focus towards innovation, putting quality at the centre of everything they do.
Lez Arts: It’s all about the magnum, baby!
Lez Arts, a rosé produced by Marrenon from the Luberon in the South of France, is only available in magnum size in the UK, which says it all, really - this is a good time wine! Where is the Luberon, I hear you ask, as you strain your ears waiting for the word ‘Provence’. Well, even though it is in the greater Provence area, this is, very uniquely, a Luberon rosé.
Tasting note: Fleur de Mer Rosé
Ah! The summer is here and this very bottle makes me think of skipping across a lavender-flecked hillside, white dress billowing, hair flowing behind – perhaps I am carrying a basket of flowers or – even better – freshly picked herbs to make dinner with later in my stone-cobbled kitchen overlooking the sea? How Provençal indeed! It’s amazing what a label can do and this one has a dreamy, curly script across it, spelling ‘Fleur de Mer’, flower of the sea. And, if you ever visit the website of this wine, you are greeted with pretty watercolour paintings of lavender loveliness.
Rosé food pairings with Vins de Provence
As soon as the sun makes an appearance in London, the rosé corks seem to pop by themselves. Any city rooftop swarms with relaxed, smiling faces, aglow with rosy reflections from the pink nectar sloshing around in their wine glasses. Not just any pink, mind, a specific pink; a very pale pink, as if the black grape skins involved just shot the juice a flirty wink, in true sexy Saint-Tropez style. Ahh, Provence rosé gets us in all the mood, doesn’t it?
Wines of Bordeaux: An intreaux to Bordeaux
Bordeaux, Bordeaux, Bordeaux. Even if you know nothing at all about wine, the chances are you’ll have heard of Bordeaux. What’s the big deal and why it is the world’s most famous wine region?