GrapeDeal.com

recent posts

Category: Uncategorized

  • My Favourite Things

    I composed this whimsical variation on Oscar Hammerstein II’s classic song My Favorite Things as a greeting card at Christmas 2014. My Favourite Things Champers from Bouzy and Provençal rosé Ageing Rioja, its fine fragrant bouquet Wine lists from cellars in old country inns These are a few of my favourite things   Syrah with pheasant…

  • The most traditional bodega in Rioja: R. López de Heredia (Part 2)

    In part 1 of this blog I wrote about my introduction to this bastion of tradition among bodegas in Rioja. We pick up the story about the most distinctive of their wines, the Viña Tondonia Blanco Gran Reserva. This aged white wine, like the red Gran Reserva, spends nearly ten years maturing in barrel, during…

  • The UK Drinking Guidelines – what do they mean?

    Last time I uploaded the new UK Drinking Guidelines that were issued in January 2016. Today I just want to clarify some of the less obvious statements in the Guidelines. The amount of alcohol consumed is expressed in ‘units’ but the definition of a unit isn’t stated. A unit is a measure of the alcohol…

  • The UK Drinking Guidelines

    You probably know that the UK government’s drinking guidelines were revised and reissued in January 2016. We will have quite a lot to say about these in future blogs but first the facts. The guidelines are actually drawn up not by the Government but by its four Chief Medical Officers, representing the four countries in the…

  • The most traditional bodega in Rioja: R. López de Heredia (Part 1)

    This blog is an adaptation of an article published in La Revue du vin de France (Mandarin Edition) in January 2013. Some of you will already know everything I have to say about the wines of this bodega, and to these readers I say: please feel free to move on. But I suspect some of…

  • Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise

      Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise is one the better known sweet wines, a situation not disadvantaged by its poetic name. But do you know how it got this name? On the face of it, this is straightforward. It is made from Muscat grapes, and it comes from the town of Beaumes-de-Venise in Provence, due east of…

  • This week’s wine tasting!

    Come down to the Fulham Wine Rooms on Thursday 5th May for my wine tasting ‘Rioja Old and New’. Last April, I put on a tasting called ‘Traditional Rioja’ and this event will take that theme forward. Rioja has changed enormously since the 1970s, with at least three new ‘style movements’ and more in the pipeline. I will…

  • Wine tastings

    From time to time, I hold wine tastings and dinners in London and Singapore. Forthcoming tastings in London are as follows: Rioja Old and New For: Chelsea and Fulham Wine Society When: 6:30pm Thursday 5th May 2016 Venue: Fulham Wine Rooms, 871-3 Fulham Rd, London SW6 5HP Cost: £25 Book via: Gary White gw1laptop@gogglemail.com Pinot Noir…

  • The Great Seam of Chalk

    It’s often said that the unique qualities of Champagne, Chablis, Burgundy and many wines from the Loire owe much to the common bed of chalky soil of these four regions, commonly known as Kimmeridgian clay (or marl). The dominant component of this soil is limestone, the popular name for calcium carbonate CaCO3; you will probably…

  • Is sweet wine more fattening than dry wine?

    Wine contains a lot of calories: there are about 550 calories in a typical bottle of dry red or white wine with an alcoholic strength of 13% abv. That’s about 90 calories per small (125ml) glass, or 130 in a large (175ml) glass. What’s worse, they are so-called ’empty’ calories, because there is no other…