The Morning Claret

Simon J Woolf & Friends on Wild and Wonderful Wines

Year: 2012

Pigs cheeks are go, at Stolen supper club
4 minute read

Graves doesn’t have to be serious

Who doesn’t love a joyful, everyday wine – especially if it’s fairly priced Bordeaux. There’s an unfortunate view, particularly prevalent in the UK, that Bordeaux wines fall into only two categories – those sold at super-premium prices for the obscenely Read more

Brigitte Chevalier at the Outsiders tasting, London Nov 2012
3 minute read

Feminine Faugères

I’m a big fan of Faugères – and if asked to describe the character of the wines from this small but over-achieving Languedoc appelation, I’d probably use words like “muscular”, “spicy” and “intense” – but also “elegant” and “structured”. However, Read more

lift-at-Brancatelli-Monte-Ilice
2 minute read

Eulogising about Etna

Following a hugely inspiring trip to Sicily’s Mount Etna region back in September, here are links to a couple of articles that I wrote on the subject: Exploding onto the Scene: Realising the potential of Etna wines When Ciro Biondi announced that Read more

That Gruner won't bite, Pete!
10 minute read

Oh Balls! (Or how customer service saved the day)

Picture the scene – four old friends, and we’ve just passed a convivial evening in a restaurant. It’s Thursday night, 9.30pm, no-one’s ready to go home but at the same time a change of scenery is called for. Oh yes, and Read more

Green and Blue's Kate Thal
5 minute read

Feeling (Green and) Blue

You don’t expect to end up on the dance floor with the proprietor at the end of a wine tasting, but that’s what happened at last Sunday’s wine and music matching event at Green and Blue. The concept seemed simple Read more

Jelena opening the Cabernet
13 minute read

Fulvio Bressan – Taking the long-term view

Winemaking has developed significantly in the last few decades. Winemakers now routinely draw on a vast canon of research, learning and technology to help ensure that they produce consistent wines and harvest fruit in prime condition, year in, year out. Read more

Pigs trotter on the conveyor belt
8 minute read

The veritas crudo of prosciutto

I rarely write about food on this blog – that’s not due to a lack of interest, but rather just a matter of focus – this is a wine blog, after all. But following a recent trip to San Daniele Read more

The wines of Alto Adige, in tweets

Technology can be a double-edged sword. Always-on internet and social media allow us to network and broadcast as never before, but that immediacy can sometimes be problematic. At last year’s European Wine Bloggers Conference, the organisers went to great pains Read more