I was just in a very nice wine bar in the heart of the wonderful city of Prague. And I must say: some French wines here, miles away from their origin, are … less expensive. I am taking a course in teaching English as a foreign language – to try something new – and being [...]

Just added: tasting notes from Clos des Papes and Le Vieux Donjon
Orange. What a lovely city in Vaucluse, France, just outside Chateauneuf du Pape. The last time I was in Orange was in 2003, the year of the canicule, the incredibly hot vintage. I recall more the heat than much of the visits, although I [...]

It was great to see Jan Wilhelm Buhrmann in Frankfurt. We have presented wines together (Pichon Baron, Gruaud Larose) while he was sommelier at Die Ente, a Michelin rated restaurant in Wiesbaden, Hessen, and now is a wine consultant also working at the fine food and wine boutique Frische Paradies in Frankfurt.
He started things [...]

Long lunches no more
I was reading through an old Economist article, from one of the February 2010 issues (don’t ask me why) and came across the statistic that in 1975, French workers on average took 1 hour and 38 minutes for lunch. Today, it is more like half an hour. Now, I know that for [...]

… A New Zealand wine tasting
For the second time around and within its ‘extra-ordinary’ tastings cycle, Château Brane-Cantenac, second classified growth, Margaux, France, welcomed wineries from « elsewhere in the winemaking world » !
And boy am sorry to have missed this!
Two years ago, Henri Lurton had opened the doors of Château Brane-Cantenac to the California [...]

I attended two wonderful master classes at yet another Decanter fine wine encounter – this time a full day concentrated on Italian wine on Saturday 15 May 2010. Almost 90 exhibitors, some rather famous, others often constituting hidden treasures. I did not taste as much as I wanted because I was slightly under the weather, [...]

During a wine tasting class in Bordeaux back in 1998, I remember our class trying three glasses of the same wine – and everyone thought they were three different wines. Why? The temperatures were different. Wine can taste different when it is served too warm or too cold. By the same [...]