At long last, a wine gadget that takes your breath away

MY LOCAL wine shop has doubled the space allotted to wine accessories in the run up to Christmas. Are they any good? The inadequately short spout on my Screwpul aerator achieves nothing for all the gurgling; a decanter is better for divesting wine of sulphite aromas (or a food blender). A gadget to soften tannins would need to deliver extreme temperatures and pure oxygen. My Vacuvin Champagne Saver broke after a few bottles - it's now as little use as a spoon in an open bottle’s neck. Offer breath-test kits for Christmas - a gendarme once showed me she didn't know how to use one at the roadside, and sent me dizzily on my way.

Full article first published in The Connexion (December, 2012)

Go for something new, not Nouveau

WHEN the Nouveau is released on the third Thursday of November, wine lovers everywhere unite in a thirst for Beaujolais - for one night we are all from Beaujolais. But where is Beaujolais from? Wine experts are muddled and even Beaujolais Crus are hard to identify as being from Beaujolais when you inspect their labels. Why do experts say it is part of Burgundy? It isn't. It has its own signature grape (Gamay), viticultural traditions and distinctive terroirs (Haut and Bas). The best Beaujolais Crus come from vineyards in the best Beaujolais-Villages terroirs and are compared to fine Burgundy reds - a mistake only a muddled wine expert would make.

Full article first published in The Connexion (November, 2012).

Wines that fly do not always take off

WHY does flying in a cabin at 30,000 feet affect aroma and flavour perception? Fatigued palates, inappropriate food and wine service temperatures and a cabin’s lack of fresh oxygen all inhibit taste. But the most curious factor is the cabin's white noise. Paul Sapin makes airline wines on an industrial scale in France. They are not intended to express terroir - like airline meals, they need to do battle in the sky. Taittinger’s Comtes de Champagne won best First Class Sparkling Wine for Air France in Business Traveller's Cellars in the Sky competition (held recently in a London hotel). Does this delicate Champagne taste of anything at 30,000 feet?

Full article first published in The Connexion (October, 2012)

'Tis the season of mystification not mellow fruitfulness

HYDROMETERS and spectrometers are on hand this month when winemakers trade farm overalls for white coats and morph from bacchanalian artisans into pointy-headed geeks. Cellars are transformed in a flurry, too. As suddenly and completely as Prohibition speakeasies flip-flopped from boozy saloons into respectable cabaret diners just before a police raid, tasting tables with half-finished bottles are replaced by a jumble of oenological paraphernalia and clean jars yeast, sugar and acid. Give winemakers a wide berth in September - they prefer to discuss specific gravity or the Higgs boson rather than mellow fruitfulness.

Full article first published in The Connexion (September, 2012).