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Wednesday Wine Women: @A_Little_sip_of_me_time
Libby aka @a_little_sip_of_me_time is an award-winning Theatre & Film Producer by trade and a long term wine enthusiast by nature. When Covid hit and all her shows were put on “indefinite hold” Libby took to drink (professionally speaking) and studied for her WSETs, completing her Level 3 with distinction.
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.
Winter Whites: 3 Wines That Will Guarantee A White Christmas
Dogs aren’t just for Christmas and white wines aren’t just for the summer. I’ve got five recommendations for you to show you you can indeed have your wish and enjoy a white Christmas!
Review: The Bottle Store Restaurant at Squerryes Winery
In the summer, on one of the hottest days of the year, I sat by the stream at the Squerryes Winery’s Kent estate and feasted on a picnic, looking out onto the lush vines. It was a pleasure to be invited to return at the weekend, on a misty afternoon, to visit the new Bottle Store restaurant.
review: cheeky burger pop-up at de mezka
Uncertain times call for people to collaborate and create - and that’s when you get something like this. Street food legend Cheeky Burger, in association with the arts and lifestyle legends at Soul Partizan, opened a pop-up at De Mezka, a temporarily-closed Turkish restaurant in Hoxton.
Non-Eurocentric food and wine pairings: Want to know what wine pairs well with curry, jerk chicken and jollof rice? Read this!
As a wine communicator, I need to move beyond Eurocentric food and wine pairings and be much more inclusive in every area when I talk about wine. I spoke to six wine professionals about their favourite food and wine pairings - and there isn’t a tomato-based pasta dish in sight.
If you love to eat food with spice, seasoning and exotic flavours - I’m talking curries, patties, fritters, marinaded meats and anything with a banging home-made rub - and want to know about the best wine pairings for it, keep reading and prepare to make your mouth water!
Drink wine and save the planet: The rise of eco-conscious wine
What if you could help to save our planet with your wine choices? Most of us have dabbled (some unknowingly, some enthusiastically) - and many of us are converted - to drinking wines that are kinder to the earth. ‘Natural’, ‘organic’, ‘biodynamic’ are words that have flooded the industry over the past few years and they are no longer on the wacky fringes of the sector. Although there are some staunch traditionalists, it is widely accepted that gentler practices in the vineyard result in healthier, longer-lasting vines, which produce tastier, more character-driven fruit. Grapes on steroids are no longer en vogue.
7 ways to be a better wine lover (it’s OK - we’re all different!)
One size wine lover does not fit all. There isn’t one mould to make a wine lover - we are all different and that’s a good thing. A very good thing.
If you’re wondering whether or not you can be a wine lover - because you don’t really look like one - I have a secret. Wine lovers don’t all look the same. Shh! We don’t all wear red trousers (though some of us do, and that’s FINE...) and, on the other end of the spectrum, we don’t all look like supermodels posing with wine bottles. Whatever type of wine lover you are, wherever you see yourself of the spectrum, it’s all good. Your opinion is valid. Whatever you are wearing, whatever you sound like.
All you need to know about Greek wine: Start exploring a land of exceptional terroir, indigenous grape varieties and cutting-edge winemaking
What do you know about Greek wine? It seems to be an area that even the most committed of wine lovers often overlook. Is it because the Greek roads are ones less travelled or because we simply have trouble pronouncing the names of the grape varieties (have a go at Agiorgitiko) and therefore will choose something that appears more familiar?
Although Greece is one of the oldest wine regions in the world, with wine production dating back to the Ancient Greek times, today it doesn’t rank in the top ten wine producing countries globally and, in the UK, we’re more likely to go for wines from Italy, France, New Zealand, Australia and Spain before we think about Greece.
An Introduction to Canned Wine: Should you be embracing wine in a can?
Canned wine has only started hitting the UK supermarket shelves in earnest this year, though America has been on this trend since 2016 (Trader Joe’s were even selling wine in cans back in 2009). South Africa, Australia and New Zealand are also embracing the can, so the question is: Is canned wine any good and should you be drinking it?
Women Supporting Women in the Wine World
Sometime at the end of July 2020, black and white photos of women flooded social media platforms with the hashtags #WomenSupportingWomen and #ChallengeAccepted. Many of those twinkling, smiling faces (or moody ones, depending on the desired vibe), flattered by the monochrome tones, were unaware that the black and white ‘women supporting women’ photo challenge was originally launched to spread awareness of the alarmingly growing femicide rate in Turkey, an issue which erupted during the pandemic-induced lockdown of the country.
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.
An Introduction to Grower Champagne
Grower Champagne is Champagne from growers who make their own wines from their own grapes, exclusively from their own vineyards. This is different to Champagne from a ‘House’, such as Veuve Clicquot or Taittinger, which are large-scale productions that buy grapes from a selection of growers, as well as using their own grapes from their own vineyards, to be able to produce the volume of wine that they do.
Weingut Lutz: German wines for the global palate
Rhinehessen (or Rhine-Hesse as we often call it in England), located on the left bank of the Rhine river between Worms and Bingen, is Germany’s largest wine region. It is here, we find winemaker Stefan Lütz and his estate, Weingut Lütz. Stefan focuses on making vegan wines for every day pleasure, that will pair with all kinds of food or just good conversation and laughter.
His Grundstock range is born from one of the best terroirs in Rhinehessen. In case you need to polish up your German, Grundstock is the word for ‘basis; foundation; root; core; basic stock’. I guess, in this context, it means ‘upon which everything else is built’, which can refer to winemaking, community, friendships and all sorts of other great things.
Winning Wines from Hambledon Vineyard for English Wine Week
In a blind tasting organised by Noble Rot magazine in 2015, one English vineyard came ahead of Pol Roger, Taittinger and Veuve Clicquot, bagging the highest score of all the wines tasted. Located on Hampshire’s South Downs, on the Newhaven Chalk formation, Hambledon Vineyard possesses the same terroir that can be found in the very best sites of the Côte des Blancs in Champagne - could this be the reason it produces such winning wines?
Agora Vermouth - your new aperitif this summer
Agora Vermouth is a new British-made small batch vermouth that is set to launch in the UK this summer. Created by UK-based wine and spirits expert, Arthur Voulgaris, the name comes from the word for a central market and social gathering place in the Ancient Greek world, as a nod to his Greek heritage. Agora is inspired by the spice route and the abundance of alluring ingredients that travelled through it in ancient times.
'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.
Take a trip with your sip: It’s off to California with Talbott Vineyards
In the pine, fir and redwood covered Santa Lucia Mountains in Monterey County, you’ll find the prestigious Santa Lucia Highlands AVA, where over 930 hectares of vineyards are planted, some as high as 1,200 feet above sea level. The mornings there are chilly, with fog and breezes coming over from Monterey Bay, but the sun shines warmly in the afternoons onto swathes of berries, ripening them steadily and slowly to lock-in complex layers of flavours and aromas. This incredible micro-climate ensures the ideal conditions for excellent cool-climate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and the Sleepy Hollow Vineyard is one of the most renowned places for it. Owned by Talbott Vineyards, Sleepy Hollow Vineyard was once named by Wine Enthusiast Magazine as a California Grand Cru because of the exceptionally high quality of the grapes.