Grape&Grain
Exton Park: Tasting the future of English sparkling wine?
Has Corinne Seely created ‘an English Bollinger’ at Exton Park, asks Peter Ranscombe. MOST English winemakers are faced with a simple choice. Make a “vintage” wine labeled with the year in which all the grapes were harvested. Or create a “non-vintage” blend by mixing a small amount of previous years’ wines – “reserve” wines –…
Read MoreHow pinot found a home on the Mornington Peninsula
Australia’s Mornington Peninsula is producing pinot noir in a variety of styles, writes Peter Ranscombe. WINEMAKERS have put up with a lot over the past year. Fewer restaurants to sell their wines, fewer pickers to harvest their grapes, and less sleep as they host Zoom calls for awkward journalists at all hours of the day…
Read MoreNew York, New York: so good, you’ll try its wine twice
Peter Ranscombe explores riesling, chardonnay, and other wine from the Empire State. THINK New York, think skyscrapers, think Broadway, think Sex and the City. But how about, “Think New York, think grapevines?” While Manhatten’s concrete jungle may not be the first place you’d look for vineyards, head inland from the city and there’s a further…
Read MoreLeeuwin and the ‘art’ of wine
Outdoor concerts and a vast art gallery don’t overshadow the quality of Leeuwin Estate’s wine, as Peter Ranscombe reports. MAKING wine is a blend of art and of science. There are the facts and the figures – measuring the ripeness of grapes in Brix or Baumé, controlling the temperature of the fermentation in Celsius or…
Read MoreM&S goes off wine’s beaten track
Peter Ranscombe reviews the new “Found” range of “unexpected and undiscovered” wines from Marks & Spencer. MARKS & Spencer wine buyers Sue Daniels and Belinda Kleinig have had a busy lockdown. After launching Markies’ “Classics” and “This is…” ranges last year, they’ve embarked on their latest vinous adventure – “Found”. This new selection features “unexpected…
Read MoreIt’s time to break out those paler ales
Peter Ranscombe runs the rule over the latest releases from beer website Flavourly. DESPITE this Arctic blast over the past couple of weeks, I’m informed reliably that spring is here. As the seasons turn, so too do the styles of beer for which we reach. The porters and stouts of autumn and winter give way…
Read MoreFollowing the spice route to Azaline
Peter Ranscombe samples a pinot noir-driven vermouth that takes drinkers on a trip to the Orient. ONE of the most exciting aspects of tasting a new drink is pulling it apart to study its components. Why does this wine taste of lemons, and butter, and vanilla? Why does this whisky taste of dark chocolate, and…
Read MoreReyneke: ‘Farming with grapes and farming with soils’
Peter Ranscombe revisits Reyneke’s stunning organic and biodynamic wines from South Africa. WHEN he arrives at a trade tasting, Daily Mail wine columnist Matthew Jukes is professionalism personified. Head down, taste the wines, move onto the next job. That’s why is was so refreshing to see his fan boy side when he presented last week’s…
Read MoreEssential California: the ‘unusual’ organic suspects
In the second part of his report from the ‘Essential California’ virtual tasting, Peter Ranscombe goes beyond the usual suspects. IN THE days running up to Scotland’s first lockdown, one of the final wine tastings I attended was the “Essential Calfornia” event in London. In the hustle and bustle of a hotel in the city’s…
Read More5 of California’s best organic pinots
The Golden State’s online wine tasting demonstrated pinot noir at its best, writes Peter Ranscombe. FEW grape varieties get wine geeks as excited as pinot noir. Most-closely associated with Burgundy in France, the grape has gone on to find new homes in the new world, including at Mornington and Tasmania in Australia, Central Otago in…
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