Reflecting on my New Zealand visit earlier in February this year, primarily to attend the Pinot Noir New Zealand Celebration 2013 (www.pinotnz.co.nz) held in sunny Wellington, one of the highlight’s of my trip was visiting the Marlborough region. Read More >
Phillip Jones -The Pinot Noir Prodigy from Down-Under
For those of us that have known Phillip Jones throughout his winegrowing evolution–for some of us that spans over three decades–and those that have managed to grasp the idiosyncrasies and eccentricities of the man (and there are many) and his extraordinary wines, those that have persevered with his unrelenting obsession with the pinot noir grape (except for a cabernet aberration early in the piece), those that have endured countless Burgundy and Rhone dinners and tastings with him and the privilege of his enormous generosity and magnanimous sharing of bottles, those that have come to appreciate his affability, peculiarities, erraticism, his quip and vagary and all the oscillations and manifestations in between…over a lunch; a standing ovation and resounding applause, hip-hip-hurray!, hip-hip-hurray!, hip-hip-hurray! to Phillip Jones, Finalist in the Gourmet Traveller Winemaker of the Year 2013. Read More >
Walter Bourke: September 15, 1945 – September 19, 2003
I first met Walter Bourke in 1986, at his legendary Melbourne restaurant, Maria & Walter’s. I had been invited to the ‘Table 8’, an underground group of the most serious wine palates in Australia, which convened regularly in the upstairs private dining room at Maria & Walter’s for extravagant banquets with vertical tastings of some of the most coveted wines in the world.
Continuing my account of Pinot Noir New Zealand Celebration 2013 held in Wellington in February and my travels around New Zealand’s vineyard regions. Admittedly I was on a patriotic high from this incredible four-day event but even more so, I felt a strong sense of absolution; that my visit to Bell Hill vineyard in Weka Pass, North Canterbury (South Island) was such an incredible experience it justified the whole trip. Read More >
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 >
Regular readers will have noticed a lack of new material on the Wandering Palate website over the last month, a direct consequence of ‘gone fishing’ in New Zealand; actually angling for pinot noir more than fish. Read More >
That wonderful Bastard Larry
Inspired by one of the ‘take home’ messages from the New Zealand Pinot Noir Celebration 2013, so eloquently articulated by Sam Neill, I have been doodling away on the “Bastards of Pinot Noir”.
It’s meant to be a song although reads more like a poem but I’m thinking if someone can come up with a musical score, along the lines of Led Zeppelin ‘Stairway to Heaven” or Johnny Lee Hooker Mr Lucky with some long guitar riffs, it might sound… well…more like a song.
What do think?
“Maya, Indian goddess of illusions, siren of shipwrecked sailors; if only you lactated Pinot Noir, you’d be perfect.” Miles to Maya in the movie ‘Sideways’. Read More >
The Wandering Palate Must-Have Wines of the Lunar Year - Dragon 2012
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 >
With two clicks on the PayPal, I just downloaded Tim Atkins 2011 Burgundy Special report for a ‘Brown beer token’, that’s £10, a ‘Darwin’ and that’s probably less than a bottle of Bourgogne Rouge. Read More >
