Over the
years I have been to more wine tastings than I care
to admit to, so here are some of my observations and recommendations for
wine. Wine is a consumer’s nightmare,
with hardly any major brands but plenty of incomprehensible jargon and a
minefield of apparently similar yet lengthy names, snobbery galore and traps
like vintages – just how good a year was 1995 in the
The key
conclusion I have reached is that it is the grower that is the critical
element when choosing wine. Forget “terroir” and fashion - top growers simply don’t make bad
wine, even in dodgy vintages.
Unfortunately wine writing is generally deeply corrupt, almost entirely
paid for by wine growers, so you can mostly forget about those tips you read in
the wine magazines.
If you buy
any wine from the growers below it is most unlikely you will be disappointed.
|
Grower |
Country |
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Jermann |
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E. Guigal |
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Torres |
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Ridge |
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JJ Prum |
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Zind Humbrecht |
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Trimbach |
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Royal Tokay |
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Weinart |
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Chateau Climens |
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Rioja Alta |
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And for
treats:
Château d’Yquem
Etienne Sauzet
Vega Sicilia
Latour
O.W. Loeb are
the best place for
Moreno Wines are
the best place for Spanish Wines.
La Vigneronne
are strong in
Berry Bros and Rudd are excellent for Port and the classic areas of
Oddbins
are the best of the High Street chains. Oddbins Fine Wines in Notting Hill have an eccentric
selection, but stocks joys like the divine De Bortoli
Noble One.
Some books
that I can highly recommend are:
Wine
Tasting – Michael Broadbent. The best book on wine tasting ever written.
Robert
Parker’s Wine Guide. The
definitive work.
Wine Snobbery – Barr. Excellent
“insider” book.
Also, for
those of you with a PC, the Microsoft Wine Guide by Oz Clarke is an excellent
reference.