Wine writer, merchant, entrepreneur and creative strategist. I love sharing my passion for wine with the world.
Photo diary
I was a panel chairman during the 5 Star Wine competition held in Verona. Once the business of judging was over, it's a great chance to catch up with old friends and of course meet new ones. The Wine Spectator Opera Wine event followed as a prelude to
Grapes
Stanušina is a red grape variety native to North Macedonia. Despite its interesting potential, especially in an age where consumers seek lighter, fresher wines, the variety is extremely rare and cultivated commercially by only a handful of wineries. 🗺️ Where it grows Also known as Black Stanušina, the grape is theoretically
Articles
Despite its historic pedigree, the Falanghina grape has spent recent decades in the doldrums. For too long it has resided on the periphery of Italian wine chat, and is generally considered to be one of Southern Italy’s provincial jug wines. Over the last few years however, it has arguably
Articles
A collaboration with De Burris, producers of Amarone della Valpolicella.
Articles
An article about winery architecture which includes notes on the Cité du Vin, Antinori's Tuscan winery and Bodegas Ysios in Rioja.
Photo diary
In February 2020 I flew in to Caglairi for a few days in order to judge at the relatively new Concorso di Vermentino, a competition designed to showcase Sardinia's top expressions of the Vermentino grape, a variety blessed with massive potential for fine, mineral rich white wines. The
Articles
You can also read this article on Vinorandum, where it won the Millesima Blog Award for Wine Reporter. Pantelleria is one of the most interesting terroirs in Italy. Known as the black pearl of the Mediterranean, this secluded Sicilian island is entirely volcanic, formed through a series of eruptions that
Articles
You can also read this article on vinorandum.com > here The Gavi denomination knocks out around six million bottles a year. The bulk of this output is undertaken by large bottlers, many of them focussed on interests elsewhere in Piedmont - Asti in particular. This approach has done much
Travel
Guagnano is one of the key winemaking villages of Salento. More specificially it's home to some of the best vineyards in Puglia's classic DOC of Salice Salentino. Here, bush vines of Negroamaro planted up to a century ago provide premium quality grapes capable of making stunning
Photo diary
The Dolcetto grape has two capitals - Ovada and Dogliani. The small village of Castelleto d'Orba is a stone's throw from Ovada, and here, the Tacchino family cultivate the variety in order to create a wine capable of ageing. You can see my profile of Azienda
Photo diary
I spent a few days seeing Liguria for the first time. Starting off in La Spezia and heading west along the coast, virtually as far as San Remo, I was able to get a feel for the terrain that characterises appellations such as Cinque Terre DOC, Ormeasco di Pornassio DOC
Photo diary
Here are a few notes from my recent four day study tour to Hungary, courtesy of HungarianWines.eu, the PR and marketing arm of the brilliant Ágnes Németh and Tamás Dobos. The format was a whistle-stop tour of Hungary by bus that incorporated the awards ceremony of the Hungarian Wine