This wine is a Great example of typical French winemaking from Bordeaux situated in the Haut-Medoc between St Julien and Margaux. Mr. Aney founded the property in 1850. Since 1972, the estate has been in the hands of Jean Pierre Raimond. This wine is a hearty expression of all that is good from Bordeaux and reasonably well priced. 65% cabernet Sauvignon, 25% merlot, the rest is Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, the lynchpins of classic Bordeaux wine. The soil type here is clay-gravel and sandy-gravel over a limestone substratum. The gravel stones retain the heat from the sunshine, protecting the vines from the frost in wintertime, and during the ripening season, they provide the necessary heat to promote sugar synthesis in the grapes. Cru Bourgeois is a guarantee of quality with strict governing rules that mean a wine can be promoted or relegated from the class on...

    In the southern regions of France, we can guarantee a few certainties almost every-day. The weekly activities and day-to-day tribulations of the local football team Olympique Marseille go hand in hand with a Ricard, and Gitanes cigarettes. Another stalwart from this region of the Midi, is Domaine Tempier. Situated in the hills above Toulon, twenty kilometers due east of Marseille, this is where the now famous impressionists lived and worked, Lautrec, van Gogh, and Monet, where lavender and olives trees grow wild, and a beautiful softness to the air. It can be hot in the summer, which is perfect for the cultivation of Mourvedre. This varietal produces medium to big bodied wines that are capable of ageing for many a year. This innate ability owes itself to Mourvedre’s ability to resist oxidation. Abundant sunshine, intertwined with clay limestone soils, and a cool breeze that blows from the...

    My friend a talented actor Tony Curran described this wine ‘like an angel weeping on your tongue’. When I went to Barolo for the first time I was attracted to the wine as it forms fragile droplets in your mouth, something like droplets of water floating about the space shuttle whilst in orbit. The droplets literally float around in your mouth and the flavors are exceptional. The Bricco Delle Viole is roughly 450 meters above sea level, a microclimate which neither gets too hot in summer nor too cold in winter. The Alps sit behind this plot and on a clear day, it is one of the most impressive sights I have ever seen. The soils that make up this terroir are rich in clay and calcium with high concentrations of minerals such as magnesium and manganese. These ingredients provide for an amazing wine of sheer quality...

    I went for a tasting with Giuseppe Vajra at the winery in Barolo. We were sitting along side some young Norwegians whom I might add are great lovers of wines. Whilst tasting this wine I asked the man from Oslo to my left what he felt about this particular 2009 Freisa. He started by telling a story; In Norway military service is obligatory; he had been assigned to the Tank regiment for his military service. His description of what lay before him was fixating, revealing the intricacies of firing a shell from a tank for the first time, detailing the sheer concentration involved. Glancing at the Kye Freisa, we had tasted that morning he equated the stimulation and concentration levels to those whilst firing off rounds in a tank. I laughed, but you know what? He was right. I am sure he was extrapolating his sensations, however,...

    The grapes used to make this wine come from two different plots; La Morra, Santa Maria Bricco Chiesa where the vines are situated approximately two hundred meters above sea level with southeastern sunshine exposure. The average age of the vines is thirty years, and this plot is no more that five acres. The second plot is in Castiglione-Falletto Bricco Fiasco. Bricco means the peak of the hillside. This plot has southwestern exposure to the sun with forty-year-old vines and measures roughly five acres. The annual production is no more than twenty-five hundred cases. A Rigorous manual selection of the finest quality grapes is undergone followed by the fermentation and maceration in stainless steel tanks for twenty days under temperature control of twenty-eight degrees Celsius. The grapes from the two different plots are kept separate throughout the process. The ageing process in forty, sixty, and seventy hectoliter Slavonian...

    From Giacomo Oddero How can I really express what I feel about Barolo? It is alongside Burgundy the most delicate of wines. Linear in structure, composed of one varietal, yet so generous in its myriad of flavors. Bordeaux can have four different varietals in the blend and Chateauneuf du Pape can have up to thirteen. Barolo is not big in your mouth; it is very soft and small. It takes its time to cover every square cubic millimeter of the tongue, once completed, you will understand the definition of finesse in fine winemaking. One hundred percent Nebbiolo, this Villero wine comes from the village of Castiglione Falletto. This plot has southwestern sunshine exposure. The average age of the vines is fifty years old. The plot is no more that two acres. The harvesting period is usually around the first ten days of October. There is great care taken...