Category Archives: General Comments

General talk about wine or whatever else is on my mind right now.

Château d’Yquem Winemaker’s Dinner

On 24 August I was lucky enough to be invited to be one of 16 lucky wine enthusiasts to attend the Château d’Yquem Winemaker’s Dinner with Jean-Philippe Lemoine. Five wines with matching dishes from the talented Ben Battersby were served at … Continue reading

Posted in General Comments, Wine Notes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Books on wine

Best place to get great wine books is Book Depository. I’ll update this page with the ones I’ve found most useful. Michael Cooper’s Buyer’s Guide to New Zealand Wine (good annual reference and guide – I generally agree with Michael’s palate it seems)

Posted in General Comments, Opinion | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Consumer NZ 2013 whites tasting

The December issue of Consumer NZ has the report of the panel blind tasting of New Zealand whites under $30. We tasted 60 wines, all purchased off-the-shelf by Consumer NZ. As with any panel, the scores among the judges varied, … Continue reading

Posted in General Comments, Opinion, Wine Notes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Chemical common sense – Letter to Decanter

Update: Decanter has published my response in the November 2013 issue. Let’s hope this puts an end to it. I’ve just sent off another letter to Decanter magazine. Seems some chap in the US didn’t like my balanced response to … Continue reading

Posted in General Comments, Opinion | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Stick to the science – Letter to Decanter, July 2013

It’s not often that I’m moved to write a letter to the editor of a magazine, but a news item in the April Decanter annoyed me. My letter was published in the July issue. The original story is here. Here’s … Continue reading

Posted in General Comments, Opinion | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Waipara Riesling Challenge 2010 overview

Early this year I bought two cases of the 2010 Waipara Riesling Challenge wines at the bargain-basement price of $9.99 a bottle (from www.blackmarket.co.nz). The challenge was an interesting idea: does the grape or the making make most difference? Or, … Continue reading

Posted in General Comments, Opinion | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Thanks Wickman’s!

Aussie auction site Wickman’s Fine Wine Auctions has added a Links to Wine Resources page to their website. Have a look under the ‘blogs’ section and you’ll find a link to this very blog. Another good Kiwi blog listed is … Continue reading

Posted in General Comments | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

A place for much stuff

I’ve been planning on collecting together wine tasting notes, scores and more in one place for quite a while. The main motivation is so I know where they are and can find them easily. So, welcome to the solution. It’s … Continue reading

Posted in General Comments | Tagged , | Leave a comment