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10JuneMayacamas – Old Skool Californian
Yesterday I was lucky enough to be invited to a vertical tasting of Mayacamas. I jumped on the invitation: ‘Old Skool’ styled Californian wines are of considerable interest to me.
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18MayThe Perfect Friday Lunch
The perfect Friday lunch is an elusive thing. Clearly it cannot take place at one’s desk; but it’s better unadulterated by guilt, so getting a decent number of hours work under one’s belt before departing salves the conscience. I do like a
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12May1999 Grands-Echezeaux, DRC. Overwhelmingly DRC
I’ve had wines from the Domaine de la Romanee-Conti that have disappointed. The 1983s. The 1994s. The 1986s (yuk). Even you 1988s: ‘don’t get me wrong - yeah I think you’re all right – but you don’t keep me warm in the middle of t
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6MayRIP: La Tache 1991
An evening to remember. An afternoon to forget. Conceived as a celebration of his new job, my friend, ‘Risky Business’ had declared his interest in drinking a special bottle. In fact what is widely considered to be one of THE special bottles –
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11AprilThe 300 – (of mature Bordeaux)
…...Not – as you might expect (given that this is a wine blog) a reference to sword-wielding Spartan hoplites. Nor indeed to the eponymous – and gruelling - workout programme of said film. The 300 or, to be accurate, 298 points in question
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4MarchRenaissance Vintners – we want to sell your wine
Do you have a collection to sell? (more…)
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22FebruaryIt never rains but it pours – Rayas.
Curiously, until earlier this month I’d ever had Château Rayas. Curious because I have several good friends with substantial holdings of Rhône wines in their collections – and even one who (somewhat unusually) actually began his wine journey
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18FebruaryGevrey-Chambertin: Domaine Fourrier
Here’s a question: what is the best domaine in Gevrey-Chambertin after Rousseau? The answer is of course at least partly subjective: there are always going to be fans of a grower’s style, or an emotional attachment to a particular estate. De
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29January2002 Romanée St Vivant, Cathiard
We have a pretty exceptional list here at Renaissance Vintners. Of course we would say that, but who else has a list like ours, with wines all physically in the UK, stored professionally in Octavian, Vinothèque and London City Bond. Our relation
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12January2002 Krug – the wait is almost over
2002 Krug. After a plethora of Champagne releases over the past year or two, the big one is now on the table, or at least on its way. The Daddy of the champagne houses and, whilst I really do rate 2004s, the Daddy of this century's vintages. N
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11DecemberMeeting Saint Peter – 1990 Pétrus
Unlike Ian, who drinks much better than I do, my Pétrus experiences have been limited to tasting rather than drinking. 2003 from the barrel in 2004 and again from bottle in 2012. A corked bottle of 1964 at around the same time (which was served
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25NovemberThe 100 point Wine (?)
I’ve always thought that awarding a wine 100 points…..or 20/20 if you prefer the traditionally British scoring system – to be rather egotistical. When declaring something to be perfect, it seems to me that yo
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20NovemberIn the beginning there was the word: and the word was “Pinot”
(more…)
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6November2009 vs 2010 Burgundy – Woo’s View
What Joss didn't say.. (more…)
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30October2010 Burgundy vs 2009 Burgundy
The 2009 and 2010 Burgundy vintages aren’t quite the “unidentical twins” that the Bordelais speak of, though maybe that reflects more on the Bordeaux marketing machine than it does on the wines from either region.
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10SeptemberWine tasting 2 at the RAC Club
Mature Burgundy & Piedmont A second instalment of the September festivities organised by ‘Clive St Hune’ at the RAC Club. The wines served at ‘Dinner Part Deux’ were not served blind, thus saving me from further embarrassment... Esp
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8SeptemberWine tasting 1 at the RAC Club
A private dinner ‘a deux’ Generously hosted by noted collector ‘Clive St Hune’. As ever, Clive was thinking - and drinking - big. All the wines drank during dinner and afterward were served to me blind. Having discussed white Bur
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27AugustIt even has a watermark
After much anticipation, the Renaissance Vintners business cards have finally arrived! With much glee and awe we are once again enormously grateful to Ross Hurford for the fabulous logo he designed for us, and to Mercer Design for doing such beautif
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22JulyThe all important logo
A couple of weeks ago, we sent out a design brief to some very talented design agencies and designer friends, to create a logo for us. In some way it was quite prescriptive, but in other ways we wanted to allow people space to come up with something
Renaissance Vintners