Semillon


Keith Tulloch Semillon 2010 (£12 Highbury Vintners, The Good Wine Shop, Noel Young Wines, D Byrne, Noble Green Wines) Interesting mix of the zesty lime & lemon and pithy greengage with more exotic tropical fruits like paw-paw and pineapple, all the while with an undercurrent of bracing, even briny minerality. […]

Hunter Valley Semillon + a Barossa interloper


The Australian wine industry is determined to communicate the message of regionality. And as anyone who has ever tasted widely will tell you, there’s a big difference between Shirazes from, say, the Hunter Valley, McLaren Vale and Beechworth. If you want proof, look at the Brokenwood portfolio. The winery is […]

Iain Riggs of Brokenwood on the pros and cons of ...




Been in France for most of the last fortnight, but managed to find time last week to host a tasting of Henschke wines for the enterprising West London Wine School. Afterwards I sat down with proprietor and professional hat-wearer Jimmy Smith to talk about what we’d been tasting. First three […]

A range from Henschke with West London Wine School


McHenry Hohnen Semillon Sauvignon 2009, Margaret River, Western Australia (£9.99-£10.99 – see below for vast list of stockists) A touch of green pepper and citrus, but it’s English summer fruit flavours that dominate – apples, pears, and rhubarb – with all being kept in check by a spine of fresh […]

Pinot Gris or Pinot Grigio? Plus Chenin and WA SSB ...


Quite a way to go before these are on a par with the reds (see here and here for a couple of recent videos on Argentine reds) Septima Sauvignon Blanc 2009, Mendoza (£6.99 Codorníu UK) Not a taut, buttock clencher, almost nutty Bordeaux style, quite rounded, light citrus, hint of […]

A quartet of Argentine whites