The best wines to drink with hot chilli spice What are the best wines to drink with spicy hot food? I’m talking here about chilli-hot food. Your first thought might be to reach for the biggest, heartiest red wine on the wine rack to pair with a hot chilli con carne for example – after […]
Best wines to drink with Beef Stroganoff
Best wines to drink with Beef Stroganoff Regular readers of my blog will know that I believe the main aim in pairing is to find wines and food that complement each other; one should not overpower the other. There are a number of foods that are notoriously difficult to pair well with food, usually because […]
A guide to oaked and unoaked wine
A guide to oaked and unoaked wine Many wine drinkers have a strong preference for either oaked wines or unoaked wines; people seem to love one and hate the other. It is important to differentiate between oaky wines with a strong taste of oak that appeal to a small proportion of wine drinkers and oaked […]
To decant or not to decant? That is the question…
To decant or not to decant? That is the question… Often regarded as an old-fashioned, even somewhat pretentious practice, decanting wine has its fair share of doubters. Is decanting simply done for show or does it serve a useful purpose? If so, which wines should be decanted and how long before serving should wine be […]
The perfect wines to drink with Christmas pudding
The perfect wines to drink with Christmas pudding I cover in two separate blogposts a) wine suggestions to serve with main courses at Christmas and b) guidance on wines to serve with starters, brunch dishes and party food typically eaten at Christmas. There are no hard and fast rules for wine at this time of year as we […]
The perfect wines to drink with Christmas dinner
The perfect wines to drink with Christmas dinner You’ve bought the turkey, made the cranberry sauce and peeled the brussel sprouts but what are you going to drink with your Christmas meal? Let’s take a look some suggestions for wines that complement typical Christmas dishes that feature as a main course for Christmas dinner in […]
Contains Sulphites on wine labels
A guide to sulphites in wine What “Contains sulphites” on wine labels means Every year I pop into RAW, the natural wine fair held in London – and other cities. There is some debate about exactly what a natural wine is and it seems to be the Marmite of the wine world at the moment (you either […]
Guide to the Chardonnay grape & Chardonnay wines
Guide to the Chardonnay grape & Chardonnay wines I’ll show my hand upfront – I love a good Chardonnay but I know it is quite a divisive grape with many who don’t like it. Remember the “Anything but Chardonnay” or “ABC” era in the late 1990s? This was almost certainly in part a backlash against […]
A guide to Tawny Port
Guide to Tawny Port Ever wondered about the difference between ruby and tawny port? Ruby port seems to be more popular but tawny port is having a bit of a revival either slightly chilled or with tonic as an aperitif or as a more traditional after-dinner drink. Having written in detail about ruby ports in another blogpost, I’m now writing […]
Guide to tannins in wine
Guide to tannins in wine Tannins in wine tend to have a bad press but is it justified? This blogpost takes a look at exactly what tannin is and how you can detect it in wine, which wines are the most tannic and which the least and how levels of tannin can be altered during […]