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  • English Wine

    English sparkling wine (and Welsh fizz too) is improving in quality year by year and much is now on par with good (if not the best) Champagne. Both are made the same way, the so-called traditional method which, in the context of the history of sparkling wine, is actually a quite recent development, but never…

  • Château Sharot part 4 – Repairing my wine

    A couple of weeks at the London Wine Fair a friend in the trade asked me how my home-made wine had turned out. I was flattered that anyone had not only read my previous blogs on this subject but remembered doing so six months later. It is true that I have been neglecting both my…

  • Château Sharot part 3 – En primeur tasting

    Part 1 of this blog post described my tiny six-vine vineyard in London, and Part 2 the start of winemaking. But after six days the fermentation stuck; this third part picks up the story there. What to do? First I waited to see if the fermentation would restart spontaneously, even if slowly. No such luck,…

  • How much drink is too much drink?

    While drinking alcohol provides pleasure in several ways, no-one disputes that it is a drug, potentially both addictive and dangerous, so there can be too much of a good thing. But how much is too much? This is a question on which the jury is still out. I have written about it twice before, in…

  • Irish wine

    Well here’s a subject that doesn’t get many column inches. It is true that the Irish are so good at making beer and spirits (and even lethal cocktails such as the Gaelic Grasshopper), that they have neither the inclination, time nor sobriety to bother much with viticulture and winemaking. Not that the weather provides much…

  • Château Sharot – The World’s Rarest and Most Unusual Wine – Part 2

    Part 1 of this blog post described my tiny garden vineyard in London and the first harvest from all of five vines, of different varieties. The idea of making wine from so few vines, and of such inharmonious varieties, is of course preposterous. No good could come of it, but neither are wine grapes much…

  • Château Sharot – The World’s Rarest and Most Unusual Wine

    There are probably a number of winemakers who describe their wine in this way. There is certainly at least one: me. Why most unusual? Well, the vineyard is in London, while winemaking takes place in Singapore. Neither city is commonly host to their respective activity. Why rarest? Because the vineyard has just six vines, all…

  • Are you scared off buying wine?

    A recent consumer study, commissioned by E&J Gallo’s Dark Horse brand, found that nearly three quarters of the sample of ‘Brits’ found restaurant wine tomes intimidating. The study also found that 36% weren’t sure what they were supposed to look out for when the wine waiter offers the wine to taste. Also, 23% always buy…

  • Madeira

    The fortified wine of Madeira is a well-documented subject but none the less interesting (or delicious) for that. But as for all wines, the experience is not complete without visiting the source, and I am writing this on the north coast of the island, on the quayside at the village of Seixal. Vines stretch up…

  • The world’s best Pinot Noir?

    Pinot Noir has quite a reputation, in ways not shared by the other great black wine grapes, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Syrah, Grenache, Nebbiolo or Sangiovese. It is famously fickle to grow (thin skinned so prone to diseases). Yet it has always held a particular fascination for many growers because, when everything…