I recently took a lean mean shopping machine trip to Waitrose. I had a £20 off if you spend £120 coupon and I had a £100 Waitrose voucher I’d bought for £95 through PerkBox. I was ready to shop and save! When I got there Waitrose were offering 25% off wines and spirits if you… Read More »
The weather has’t really been conducive to a nice cooling Sauvignon Blanc, but I try not to let such details bother me. I do like cold white wines when it’s cold outside but warm and toasty inside. There’s something comforting about being snuggled up under a blanket in front of a fire and having condensation… Read More »
Many years ago I worked in an office just down the road from the Massey Ferguson tractor factory in Coventry (England). It was great to see the wonderful tractors setting out all shiny and red for their new adventures around the world. Even the company cars driven by employees were red. The one downside of… Read More »
Nobilo was the first New Zealand wine I remember drinking. It wasn’t a Sauvignon Blanc, it was ‘White Cloud’, a cheery combination of pedestrian grapes like Muller Thurgau and Chenin Blanc. It was really not bad at a time when Paul Masson, Blue Nun and Black Tower were still fresh memories. It was therefore an… Read More »
New Zealand is starting to produce some interesting non-Sauvignon Blanc choices, and as I was making some tuna with lime I picked up a Spy Mountain Marlborough 2007 Riesling from Tesco. Pale lemon green, it smelled lightly of petrol and citrus. It was off-dry with a medium body and a medium alcohol level. It had… Read More »
A series of confusing events recently found me out for dinner in a restaurant which had been recommended by a few people late last year. An unusual offer of Thai, Chinese, Indian and Mediterranean food served tapas style so you could savour tiny dishes from around the world. Unfortunately that offer hadn’t paid the bills… Read More »
I ran into some friends last week and stopped for a drink, and then another one. We had a bottle of Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough Regional Collection 2006. It was pale lemon green and looked bright and inviting. It smelled fresh and zingy with limes and apples and grapefruit. Served very cold on a hot… Read More »
Buying anything other than Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough in New Zealand just seems to be wrong. It’s perfect for Sauvignon, why waste valuable space on anything else? Intrepid winemakers keep trying, with variable levels of success. I tried a Montana Marlborough 2006 Riesling. It was a lemon colour with a hint of gold. It smelled… Read More »
Mostly when I’m in a wine producing country (England doesn’t really count) I like to drink their wine, but on a recent trip to the US my hosts mostly wanted to drink antipodean wine. Never one to turn down Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, particularly when it’s free, I was happy to comply. We had… Read More »
I grabbed a bottle of what I thought was Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc in Majestic, what I’d actually picked up was Oyster Bay Chardonnay 2004 from Marlborough, New Zealand It took my brain a while to catch up with my nose. I was very confused. It’s also quite a golden lemon colour which added to… Read More »