Meeting Mr Chenin: the wines of Ken Forrester, who has helped make South African Chenin Blanc famous
I’m sitting with Ken Forrester outside his tasting room on a sunny November afternoon, looking across one of his vineyards
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Regions
Highlights: Brooks Wines Ara Riesling 2021, Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA
One of the many highlights of the Brooks Wines portfolio, Ara was one of the first Rieslings founder/winemaker Jimi Brooks
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Highlights: two from 2022 in Marlborough, Cloudy Bay and Yealands
It’s compare and contrast from two Sauvignon Blancs from Marlborough – new releases from the 2022 vintage. One priced at
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The wines of Graeme and Julie Bott (Domaine GJ Bott): what happens when a Kiwi comes to the Northern Rhône and finds love and a vocation
Website: https://www.domaine-gjbott.fr/en/ Graeme Bott is a Kiwi and he married Julie, who’s French and was born in the northern Rhône.
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Domaine Bousquet: how a winemaker swapped his French winery for an Argentine one, and then his Kuwait-born Iraqi son-in law grew it to be the country’s leading organic winery
Website: https://domainebousquet.com/en/ This week I met with Labid al Ameri (pictured above), co-owner of Domaine Bousquet, in London to hear
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Chenin Blanc in Western Australia, an emerging story
Two Aussies were at the recent Chenin Blanc Congress in Stellenbosch, as well as 70 growers from Anjuo/Saumur and Vouvray,
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On the Chenin Blanc trail in Stellenbosch, visiting four old vineyards and tasting the wines
Today I spent the afternoon visiting vineyards. Not an unusual activity for me, but this was part of the second
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In Niagara (7) Thomas Bachelder: top Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Gamay from Canada’s Niagara region
Website: https://bachelderniagara.com/ Tasting with Thomas Bachelder is a remarkable experience. He has an innate curiosity and knowledge of wine that
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Lismore: tasting the latest releases from Samantha O’Keefe in Greyton, South Africa
Website: https://www.lismore.co.za/ Samantha O’Keefe is a pioneering wine grower in Greyton, where she first planted a wine farm in 2004.
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Felton Road: current releases and a retrospective, celebrating 25 years of this important Central Otago producer
It’s easy to forget how recent Central Otago’s progress as a world famous wine region is. When the first blocks
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