Yearly Archives: 2010



La Différence Viognier-Muscat 2009, IGP Pays d’Oc, France (£5.99 Tesco) Pure, fresh and honest wine, with the rich oily/peachy edge of Viognier combining with grapey freshness of Muscat to pleasing effect. B(+) Creyssels Languedoc-Picpoul de Pinet 2009, France (£7.75 Stone Vine & Sun) Richer than many Picpouls, with pear and […]

Languedoc whites plus a South-West interloper


Crossroads Syrah 2008, Hawkes Bay (£13.50 Mentzendorff) Has a fragrant, peppery roasted aroma, along with fresh blackcurrant, plum and raspberry fruit, but could use a little more body to live up to that fragrance. B Vidal Gimblett Gravels Syrah 2008, Hawkes Bay (£10.99 Waitrose, Halifax Wine Co, Trina’s Wines, www.nzhouseofwine.co.uk) […]

Six New Zealand Syrahs



First Drop Wines Bella Coppia Arneis 2009, Adelaide Hills, Australia (£12.99 from October 2010 New School Wines Ltd, The Secret Cellar, Cambridge Wine Merchants) Clean, fresh and zesty, combining fleshy pear fruit with crisp citrussy acidity and a slightly briny/savoury finish. B+ Zalze Bush Vine Chenin Blanc 2009, Western Cape, […]

Three Cape Chenin Blancs + Viognier, Arneis & Marsanne



Newsflash! OK, not a newsflash in the strict sense of the word. On this occasion, it’s the name given to the newsletter from Laurenz Maria Moser V, a man whose family founded the famous Lenz Moser wine company in Austria, and who now, with his Laurenz V range, seems to […]

Gruner Veltliner spreads around the world