Blog

Gin. Legally, it must be a flavoured ethyl alcohol-based drink with 37.5% ABV or above. The predominant element in the flavour must be juniper. That’s pretty much it. There are distinctions and categories, some official, some not: London Dry Gin, Old Tom, Navy Strength. There is thus a massive scope for experiment and variation in gin, as anyone who has shopped for gin lately well knows.

The joy of Beaujolais

by

Brett Turner, Head of Marketing, Retail and Wine Bars; Wine Buyer

SHOP 10% OFF 3 (or more) BEAUJOLAIS WINES

The “everyday light/chillable red” category has many viable contenders – Valpolicella and the like – and though Basic Bojo holds a special place in the market, it is a crowded one. However, the key to the recent success of Beaujolais in retail is customer interest in the more serious Cru wines, especially from smaller growers.

Organic September

by

Chris Kaplonski, Data Analyst, Sustainability Nerd

It is Organic September, in case you didn’t know. What does that mean for the world of wine? Let’s find out.

Riesling classifications

by

Chris Kaplonski, Data Analyst, Sustainability Nerd

German wine classifications are almost as confusing and complicated as German wine labels as a whole appear to be. There are just a few basic things you need to know about to have more confidence in shopping for a German wine, Riesling or not. I’m not going into every nuance of the system, since, frankly, a lot of it doesn’t matter to most wine drinkers, unless you are trying to impress somebody. There’s a graphic representing the classification system on our Monthly Wine Specials page. In effect, this post will follow that pyramid from the bottom up.

The Joy of White Burgundy

by

Brett Turner, Head of Marketing, Retail and Wine Bars; Wine Buyer

If there’s a best white wine in the world, let’s face it, it’s a White Burgundy. The ancestral home of Chardonnay, emulated globally, home to the greatest concentration of grand white wines in the world. There are few greater pleasures in life than a glass of stony, honeyed, chalky, vanilla/nut-laced White Burgundy, and we have one of the best selections in the land: from tiny unknown growers to grand aristocratic estate, from the famed appellations to under-rated corners.

About the Loire Valley Region

by

Hal Wilson, Managing Director and Wine Buyer

The Loire river is the longest in France, rising in the Cevennes mountains in the South East and running north then west to the Atlantic for over 1000km. The Valley is home to over 1000 chateaux, is known as the Garden of France and is home to some of the most exciting wine styles in the world.

Sustainability vs Veganism

by

Chris Kaplonski Data Analyst, Sustainability Nerd

Despite what would probably seem the common-sense view of the relationship, approaches to sustainability and veganism, at least in wine-making, don’t necessary overlap. Indeed, depending as always on how you define things, at times they are in opposition to each other.

Vivino ratings

by

Chris Kaplonski, Data Analyst, Sustainability Nerd

You’ve almost certainly seen them. You may have even added a few yourself. But have you ever wondered what they actually mean? ‘They,’ of course, are Vivino ratings. You might rely on them when choosing a wine, or you might think (as I’ve heard ‘experts’ say dismissively) ‘They’re just a bunch of people’s opinions.’ So, which is it? Is there a point to Vivino ratings?

Follow us

by

by

by

by

by

by

by

Chris Kaplonski Data Analyst, Sustainability Nerd

by

Search engine