This blog began as a record of taking the WSET Diploma, during which I studied and explored wines and spirits made all around the world. Having passed the Diploma and become a WSET Certified Educator, the blog has become much more: a continual outlet for my passion for the culture of wine, spirits, and beer.
I aim to educate in an informal, enlightening, and engaging manner. As well as maintaining this blog to track my latest enthusiasms, I provide educational tastings for restaurants and for private groups. Details can be found on the website, and collaborations are welcome.
Wine is my primary interest and area of expertise and this blog aims to immerse the reader in the history of wine, to understand why wine tastes like it does, and to explore all the latest news. At the same time, beer and spirits will never be ignored.
For the drinker, whether casual or professional, today is a good time to be alive.
All tagged chardonnay
Muscadet is Melon, right? Well, yes—the four Muscadet appellations must be 100% Melon. But the Loire is full of experimental winemakers, so there are other grape varieties planted too though they have to be labelled under as IGP or Vin de France. A brief trip to Nantes saw me sample wines made from Grolleau, Gamay, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Savagnin, Pinot Gris, and Folle Blanche. This is a much more dynamic area than outside perceptions suggest.
The last twenty years has seen a radical shift in the quality of German sparkling wine (called Sekt), with the best producers either focusing almost solely on bubbles or making high-quality alternatives to their still wines. Tasting through nearly fifty Sekt wines in Germany showed the range of styles and levels of quality now being made.
Sta. Rita Hills is an AVA in Santa Barbara County producing increasingly impressive wines, most notably from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir but also from Syrah. For my first wine tasting trip in months, I visited the region to see exactly what’s going on and came back extremely enamoured with the wines and the direction in which the region is heading.
Meursault is a village in the heart of Côte de Beaune famous for producing rich, opulent wines. But things are changing as I found out at a tasting - the wines now are designed to be more expressive of the part of the village they come from.
South Africa isn't simply a hot country producing powerful red wines: the cooler conditions in coastal regions result in fresh, complex white wines, especially from Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and Chardonnay.
There is an extraordinary number of appellations within Burgundy. Some of them are quite obscure and provide an opportunity to find good-value alternatives to more famous names.
