by Judy Pridmore | Feb 7, 2021 | What I'm drinking
If I was asked what is the best value white wine in the world Dr Loosen’s Mosel Valley Riesling(s) would be my immediate choice. (The red wine correlative would be Guigal’s Cotes du Rhone.) It is sheer serendipity that the alcohol of the Loosen is only...
by James Halliday | Jan 16, 2021 | What I'm drinking
I have 12 vintages of Guigal Cotes du Rhone between 1976 and 2005 in my cellar, wines that are linked by a common history, most obviously the maker and region. Behind those are an article I wrote for my then newspaper, The National Times, in which I said that...
by Judy Pridmore | Jan 9, 2021 | What I'm drinking
The grapes for the wine came from Block 5 of the Ben Ean estate vineyard that encircles the (long disused) winery. The wine was matured in used French oak for 18 months, with no whole bunch or other tricks. The vintage was the first of an exceptional run of ’11,...
by Judy Pridmore | Dec 7, 2020 | What I'm drinking
It may be an apocryphal story, but when I heard it many years ago, I felt a sense of deja vu. The story goes that a venerable member of the English wine trade was asked when did he last confuse a Rhône wine with one from Burgundy? His reply was ‘Not since...
by Judy Pridmore | Nov 30, 2020 | What I'm drinking
The deep colour is no false dawn. Red (cherry) and purple (plum) fruits dispute the headlines, neither losing. The palate is rich and sumptuous, and just when you think the fruit might be over the top, ripe tannins take the field, providing balance, texture and...
by Judy Pridmore | Nov 23, 2020 | What I'm drinking
The photograph of the bottle of this wine will hopefully show the dark, almost black deposit painted on the upper half of the bottle going through to the neck, on the side which corresponds to the position it held in my cellar for many years. This deposit is of tannin...
