Ancestral beauty from Viñátigo, Tenerife
Simon thought he knew what white/orange wines from the Canary islands taste like. Until he tries Viñátigo’s Elaboraciones Ancestrales Blanco 2016!
Ten tasty orange treats at Cafe de Klepel
Tricky things these artisan-made natural wines. Some days they sing, others they sulk. I presented 17 orange wines to a large group of Dutch sommeliers back in May, and although there were gems, many of the classics just weren’t showing Read more
Muscat Ottonel, a love story
Sometimes the path of true love really does alter everything. When Austrian Martin Lichtenberger and Spaniard Adrianna Gonzalez met in 2007, during their winemaking studies in California, they might not have predicted that they’d soon be making wine together on another continent. Not to mention a skin contact Muscat Ottonel (an orange wine).
The dreaded Palomino – Daterra Viticultores
Tasting at a busy wine fair is hard. Where to go, what to taste? Did I miss something mindblowing amidst the crowds? A tall, rather statuesque lady with impressive dreadlocks grabs my attention. I offer my best/only Portuguese “Posso provar os vinhos brancos?”, she retaliates with a stream of Spanish. I catch the word “Galicia” and little else. The owner of the dreads is Laura Lorenzo, Daterra Viticultores, Galicia.
Old Man of La Mancha – de Sol a Sol Airén 2011
Never mind the special six course foraged dinner “010 020 Het Wilde”, cooked by a crack team of chefs from Rotterdam and Amsterdam. The star of the show for me was de Sol a Sol – a thrilling, profound orange wine which transcends its seemingly extreme method of production – 403 days of skin contact!
Julie’s Jurassic Jaunt (or “how to buy wine for 40 people”)
So, I have a friend, we’ll call her Julie. Julie says to me, please can you buy the wine for my upcoming 40th birthday celebration – a weekend house party on the Jurassic coast (near Lyme Regis), with 40 guests Read more
Mar i Terra y Juan Garcia
An unplanned nutrition requirement near Waterloo led to an excellent discovery tonight. Mar i Terra is a cosy yet bustling tapas restaurant buried on a Southwark backstreet. I can never resist an obscure grape variety, so the Arribes de Vettonia Read more
Let’s get naked, again
Here’s a brief write-up of some of the more interesting wines I encountered at the Naked Wines tasting in London this evening. I have to say, I think the interactions with the winemakers were at least as interesting as the Read more