The Spirit World

I helped out at a trade event in London devoted to Sauternes and Barsac the other week. Entitled “Sweeties with Savouries” it set out to show how both Sauternes and Barsac can be drunk not only with the usual foie gras and desserts but also with all the courses of a complete meal. With courses […]

I wonder if 2008 will be as good as 2007 was for English Wine?The year has certainly started well with the lifting of the European Union planting ban. This was put in place in 1999 to compensate for the excessive volumes of low quality wine being produced elsewhere in the EU. It prevented the UK […]

I’ve had the good fortune to visit the Friuli-Venezia-Giulia region, featured in this month’s Wine Blogging Wednesday, several times on business. I went to Trieste which is about as far round you can go in Italy in a north east direction before you hit Slovenia. It’s a very pleasant place, obviously Italian but with a […]

When I wrote my first post for Wine Sediments I had just started on the 2 year WSET Diploma course. I am now halfway through it, with my final exam scheduled for 9 January 2009, although I do have one more essay to submit in April 2009. There have been some interesting unrelated benefits I […]

It’s that time of year again when most people make, or at least think about making, New Year’s resolutions. Spurred on by the discussion on Grape Radio recently, I thought I’d have a go at making up my wine related resolutions. Being a Scot New Year’s Eve, or Hogmanay as we call it, is important […]

I’ve been in China for the last 10 days on a guided tour aptly named A Taste of China, and that’s what I’ve been doing – tasting the history, culture, food and of course the wine. To sum it all up, China has huge potential for producing and exporting quality wine – it’s just not […]

Argentina has been the focus of my studies over the past 2 weeks or so. I may have passed my geography exams at school, but I would have been hard pressed to accurately locate it on a map of South America until recently. When you do learn a bit more about its geography, it explains […]

I attended a great seminar last week run by the Napa Valley Vintners Association and organised by the Institute of Masters of Wine. It was entitled Napa Valley terroir. Now terroir is something us European wine lovers are led to believe is an Old World concept shunned by some parts of the New World. This […]

The impending publication of a yet another wine book has set me thinking of the similarities between wine and golf. Bear with me as there are similarities and I don’t think it’s just a personal view.
I’ve been a keen golfer all my life (well, I am a Scot) and have acquired quite a collection of […]

I had a lunch the other day which was very enjoyable – great food, good wine, stunning location, nice views and pleasant company – and it set me thinking about the pairing of food and wine. There is a lot written about the importance of matching food and wine and there are many web sites […]