Monday 29 June 2009 – 10:07
An interesting bit of news for you.
Come the start of August, Vin de Pays - the wide-reaching term for French wine between table wine and appellation-approved quality wine - will be no more.
In its place will be the new Indication Géographique Protegée system – designed to give current Vin de Pays producers a foot-up to sit [...]
Monday 1 June 2009 – 9:18
It would be true to say that there are many things that divide opinion amongst wine consumers. Oaked or un-oaked, ‘malo’ or single ferment, cork or screwcap.
Mixed triviality weightings in the wider context perhaps, but each is important in understanding the nuances of the wine in bottle. An understanding of how a [...]
Friday 15 May 2009 – 11:15
An interesting news item on Decanter.com caught my attention this morning, with hailstorms damamging vineyards in St-Emilion and the southern Médoc.
As the article points out, it’s too early for this to affect quality, but damage to the vine’s delicate new growth this early in the season could potentially lead to a reduced crop for the [...]
Monday 23 February 2009 – 11:27
Several of our competitors set great store by offering unfeasibly large savings from cases of wine, often own-label, and in exchange for signing up for repeat purchases later on at full price.
We’ve always found this approach a little irritating. Unlike those competitors, which have little of no retail presence, our 150 or so stores ‘keep us [...]
Monday 16 February 2009 – 15:51
Majestic’s first foray into the en primeur market was in 1995 and, keen to at least start a ‘proper’ wine collection, I bought two cases of Chateau La Tour St Bonnet for not much more than £50 a case. It sat relatively undisturbed in our depot after arriving in the UK, and I took the [...]
Tuesday 25 November 2008 – 12:29
Speculation about Alistair Darling’s pre-budget decrease in VAT had us all on tenterhooks yesterday morning. However, much to our surprise (no leaks in this direction) he partnered the 2.5% decrease in VAT with an 8% increase in the rate of excise duty on wine. The effect of this rise is to more than offset the decrease [...]
Monday 1 September 2008 – 10:14
More wine-related media news for you: Thursday sees the start of a new six-part series on Channel4 following wine critic Monty Waldin’s 18-month adventure into winemaking in southern France.
Monty has rented a vineyard in Roussillon and the series follows his trials and tribulations in producing his first vintage. Adding to the interest, Monty is determined [...]
Tuesday 5 August 2008 – 10:58
Following the success of Sideways, not to mention the more specialist delights of Mondovino, comes yet another Hollywood view over the wine industry. Bottle Shock is a movie that recounts the story of the 1976 Judgement of Paris, when wines from the then nascent Californian wine regions were pitted against the finest of Bordeaux and [...]
Monday 23 June 2008 – 13:27
Now all our en primeur wines have been released I thought I should get back to recommending a few of my current favourites, drinking now and providing both quality and value in the less rarefied air away from Bordeaux. So, if you’re mixing a case do try the following. I’ve deliberately chosen ‘interesting’ wines which [...]
Friday 30 May 2008 – 9:50
Decanter.com has an interesting story about the declining sales of Chardonnay in the UK accompanied by an interesting quote from Oz Clarke:
Chardonnay has made some of the world’s greatest wines. Everyone appreciated it – until Bridget Jones. Before Bridget Jones, Chardonnay was really sexy. After, people said, ‘God, not in my bar’.
I’ve taken a quick [...]
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