Archive for March 2012

The inner doings of the ruined castle of Chateauneuf-du-PapeToday has been a cycle of pleasure and pain, a brief description of which will give you some insight into the daily experiences of a wine merchant on a buying trip to France. I headed out to Chateauneuf after breakfast and had an extremely …

A view from the top...of the Hill of HermitageWe rose in the darkness before dawn. Opening the window of my stifling hotel room in Beaune, I expected an immeditate ingress of icy air; stars gleaming in the morning sky revealed that the night had been a clear one. Yet although the air was refreshing,…

Livestock above Westbury white horseNagging at me for weeks now has been the requirement to squirt off down the Rhône Valley to taste the 2010 vintage, about which I - and perhaps you - have been hearing a great deal. In Burgundy, whilst the '09 vintage threw up succulent, ripe wines that'll o…