New Zealand Pinot Noir - The Wandering Palate

Having tried the new 2011 pinot noir releases from Schubert at the New Zealand Pinot Noir Celebration back in February, even though only just bottled, one could already sense a brooding concentration in the vintage yet balanced with notably fresh-cool acidities and crunchy fruit. Read More >

Must Have Wines | Related to: Deer, Martinborough, New Zealand Pinot Noir, Venison |

Our Shanghai correspondent, Mick Knuppel, senses a change of the old guard as the new generation Shanghainese move away from pretentious French burgundy and discover that New Zealand’s deep-fruited pinot noirs are not only more generous and accessible they are brilliantly suited to this region’s cuisine moreover, offer exceptional value for money. Read More >

Buying Wine, New World Pinot Noir | Related to: China, New Zealand Pinot Noir, Shanghai | 2 comments

From a lost play by Eubulos, (c.405 BC - c.335 BC)
‘For sensible men I prepare only three kraters (large vase used to mix wine): one for health (which they drink first), the second for love and pleasure, and the third for sleep. After the third one is drained, wise men go home.

The fourth krater is not mine any more - it belongs to bad behaviour; the fifth is for shouting; the sixth is for rudeness and insults; the seventh is for fights; the eighth is for breaking the furniture; the ninth is for depression; the tenth is for madness and unconsciousness.’

"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read.

But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defence of the new.”

As uttered by the vitriolic restaurant critic Anton Ego, in the film “Ratatouille”, after his epiphany.