The Morning Claret

Simon J Woolf & Friends on Wild and Wonderful Wines

Obscure red grape varieties

Domaine Foundi - Naoussaia 2009
10 minute read

12 years of Xinomavro

SUMMER 2003, CRETE. I’m staying in a self-catering apartment hidden away on one of Chania’s many labyrinthine alleys. Almost right opposite is a local shop where I stock up on pasta, vegetables and olive oil. The owner is super friendly and Read more

Chateau Muhkrani Shavkapito 2009
4 minute read

Seven reasons why I love Shavkapito

Sometimes, falling in love is easy. And so it was with me and Shavkapito – we met across a crowded room at last year’s EWBC conference and with the first sip I knew I was hooked. Is it possible to 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

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

Modernist traditions of Istria

Most people will have a view about the classic “old world” wine producing nations – France, well it’s expensive, the name of the grape isn’t on the bottle, they’re still the greatest wines in the world, and so forth. Spain Read more