Pinot noir enthusiasts the world over hardly need any convincing that Felton Road make extraordinarily good, arguably great pinot noir, however that does not mean I can’t have my say as well. Read More >

Admittedly my predilection for pinot noir is perhaps a prejudice in my choice of ‘Red Wine of the Year’ and this sneak preview of my annual retrospective of wine highlights, the Year of the Dragon – 2012. However, the irrefutable fact is, Rippon Mature Vines Pinot Noir 2009 was the most profoundly complex, texturally sensual and incredibly drinkable wine I encountered all year; a wine of extraordinary charm and approachability even it its youth. And I will go further and declare it is the most impressive current release New World pinot noir I have ever had – period. Read More >

Speaking at a corporate wine evening recently, themed on biodynamic wines and having just delivered a crash course on Wine Feng Shui, it was no surprise that one of the more wine-savvy people in audience asked the predictable question, “Do biodynamic wines taste better?” And in the same breath, “How do I taste the difference between a biodynamic wine and a normal wine?” Read More >

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A few months ago I was asked to speak to a group of 30 women at the AGM of the Financial Women’s Association, Singapore. The theme was entirely up to me so I thought it might impress if I put on a small tasting of wines made exclusively by women winemakers, both empowering and taming my audience. Read More >

I just had lunch with Alan Brady, the pioneering father of the Central Otago wine region in the deep south of New Zealand’s South Island. As Brady puts it, “…at 45 deg south it was a lonely place for grape growers when a few of us planted vines here in the early 1980s”. Read More >

Not sure where to start with this article, given it’s about 10 years overdue! Actually, I had begun a piece on their outstanding cellar door restaurant and contemporary art museum, which we went to last year and had a fabulous lunch; but a computer meltdown erased both prose and pictures, which is killing me. Read More >

3 Individual Vineyard Cuvees from the 2009 Vintage:

Morrison Vineyard – Lowburn

Muirkirk Pinot Noir – Bannockburn

Stevens Vineyard – Gibbston Read More >

Must-Have Wines of the Lunar Year USA – White Wine of the Year

Peter Michael La Carrière Chardonnay 2008 – Knights Valley, Sonoma County, California

At the risk of being repetitive, whenever I’m asked what is my favourite wine? The answer is invariably, “The one I haven’t tried yet” and discovery remains my main motivation in my enthusiasm for wine. Moreover, the adage ‘The more you know about wine, the more you realise how little you know’ is pertinent with my lack of knowledge on American wine. Read More >

My approach to wine is I believe, much the same as most of us who actually drink the stuff and that is to be largely influenced by the mood or the food and level of thirst. Instinctively I consult my onboard computer first, listening to my emotions and as I am habitually obsessed with food it is normally the dictator of what wine I would like to drink. Read More >