Cape Winemakers Guild – 2020 Auction Wines
South Africa, featured
, Sep 2020
The annual Cape Winemakers Guild auction plays an important role within the South African wine industry, showcasing limited edition cuvées from some of its most revered winemakers, as well as raising money for vital internship programs. This year’s forthcoming auction is studded with gems.
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Cellar Favorite: 1919 Montrose
France: Bordeaux, cellar favorite, Cellar Favorites
, Sep 2020
Obscure Bordeaux vintages are like the detritus of odds and ends you find at the back of the drawer you never open. The more forgotten or derided the annus horribilus, the more it piques my interest.
Vinous Table: Elystan Street, London, United Kingdom
United Kingdom, Vinous Table
, Sep 2020
Overall, I can understand exactly why Elystan Street has become a popular haunt for Chelsea residents.
Cellar Favorite: 1964 Krug Private Cuvée & 1979 Collection
cellar favorite, Cellar Favorites
, Sep 2020
My experience with mature vintage Champagne is not as extensive as others’, although I have enjoyed more than my fair share.
Close to the Edge: Chablis 2018 & 2019
featured, France: Burgundy
, Sep 2020
The 2018 and 2019 Chablis growing seasons are cut from a similar cloth, but on close examination there are crucial differences that sway their respective styles. This report compares the two and asks to what extent climate change might erode Chablis’ uniqueness.
Vinous Table: Noble Rot Soho, London, UK
United Kingdom, Vinous Table
, Sep 2020
When restaurants are valiantly forming a rearguard action against COVID, the opening of Noble Rot Soho at this moment represents a rare event as neighbors remain mothballed for fear what winter will bring.
Vinous Table: La Casita, Guildford, UK
United Kingdom, Vinous Table
, Sep 2020
I have not returned to Spain for a long time, though my penchant for its cuisine has never abated. Therefore, every now and again I book a table at my local tapas restaurant, La Casita – in my estimation, one of the finest in Guildford.
Constance Craving: Vin de Constance 1992-2017
South Africa, featured
, Sep 2020
In Jane Austen’s novel Sense and Sensibility, one of literature’s finest works detailing the ups and downs of courtship and matters of the heart, Mrs. Jennings suggests to Elinor Dashwood that she drink a slug of finest old Constantia to recover from a fever brought on by her romantic interest, John Willoughby. Jennings counsels that the sweet wine not only cures “colicky gout,” but possesses “healing powers on a disappointed heart.” Like those characters in Austen’s novel, I do appreciate one of the iconic sweet wines of the world – one that, as I shall describe, is undergoing a quiet revolution.
Cellar Favorite: Blandy’s New Releases
cellar favorite, Cellar Favorites
, Sep 2020
I don’t need to tell you that I review the contents of a bottle, not its aesthetic virtues. However, hats off to the Madeira Wine Company, whose quartet of new releases in conveniently sized 5cl bottles came nestled in a wicker box lined with linen in traditional Madeira colors of green and red.
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Beyond Wine: Album Review of The Flaming Lips - American Head
Beyond Wine
, Sep 2020
Hats off to Wayne Coyne and his very able band. How many artists in the fourth decade of their career remain as enticingly outré and original, but as popular as ever, and produce some of their best music.