With the days getting colder and the festive season upon us, there’s no better time to revisit Portugal and its delicious fortified wines. But how much do you really know about this country and port? Take our quiz to find out – and stand a chance to win! Loading Portugal var QuizWorks = window.QuizWorks || []; ...
Garage Wine Co is different to the big, established companies that dominate the Chilean market. Their hand-crafted, artisan wines are produced from grapes purchased from small growers in the Maipo and Maule valleys. Following on from the 2010 earthquake that ravaged much of Chile, Garage has helped many growers to restore their vineyards and showed them how to make (and sell) brilliant wines to drinkers as far away as the UK. Joe Fattorini talks to Derek Mossman Knapp from Garage Wine Co. about traditional grape growing in the Maule...
Grape growers to winemakers is a familiar story in the land of Oz, but here’s a winery that’s definitely worthy of your attention. The Swinney property in Frankland River was established in 1922, and has long provided high quality fruit to many of Western Australia’s top wineries. In the last decade, fourth generation Matt Swinney established the Swinney label, with a concise range of four wines featuring Shiraz and Riesling, and complemented by two tri-varietal blends. Ranked in James Halliday’s Top Ten new wineries of 2015, Swinney...
With just three and a bit weeks to go until Christmas there’s not much time for planning your Christmas festivities. So we’ve put together the 12 Drinks of Christmas, a great cross-section of wines, beers and spirits that will work for a whole host of holiday occasions. You'll find the 12 Drinks on page 29 of our Christmas brochure, and here are some of our top tips for Christmas drinking whether it’s Christmas Eve dinner, Boxing Day buffet, or some crafty cocktails on New Year’s Eve. The perfect dinner...
This month we waved goodbye to Ed Street, our fantastic Sales Operations guru as he heads off to Tanzania on a placement with VSO. Replacing Ed we welcome Leona De Pasquale to the role, who starts with us this week and is really excited to be joining Walker & Wodehouse. Please join us in offering a warm welcome to Leona, who will be supporting you in the coming months. Leona will be contactable on 0207 449 1661 and on email at ldepasquale@walkerwodehousewines.com...
Simple, strong and to the point, the Old Fashioned harks back to the original American ‘cocktail’ of the early 19th century, based on liquor, water, sugar and bitters. Back then it was often made with Rye Whiskey and became known as a Whiskey Cocktail. After Prohibition, bartenders became more experimental but purists harked back to their original drink, hence the name ‘Old Fashioned’ was coined. In more recent times this bold sipping cocktail has re-emerged in public awareness as the drink of choice for the...
Separated by the curving spine of the Andes Mountains, Argentina and Chile lie side by side in the southern half of South America. These long, thin countries take latitudinal variation to the extreme, and it accounts for the huge variety of wines they produce. But it is the influence of the Pacific Ocean and altitude of the Andes that have contributed to their growing reputation as quality winemaking regions. These cooling influences moderate intense heat and sunlight, allowing grapes to ripen slowly, so that flavours...
As the nights darken and our trees transform from vibrant green to deep orange and apricot, we look for wines that offer those autumnal scents and flavours. Here are three New Zealand Pinot Noirs we tasted last week that offer just that, but are each uniquely different. Craggy Range Te Muna Road Pinot Noir 2013 First up is Craggy Range Te Muna Road Pinot Noir 2013, sourced from vineyards 7km outside of Martinborough, on New Zealand’s North Island. Sharing the same latitude as its more southerly neighbour Marlborough,...
A flying visit to Spain was a great way to catch up with our producers in both Rioja and Ribera del Duero. With the harvest just starting in both regions it was great to walk the vineyards, amidst pickers and tractors! Both regions have experienced an incredibly hot and dry summer and temperatures in the first week of October were still pushing 26°C. Miguel Merino A visit to Miguel Merino is always a pleasure and an impromptu lunch of chargrilled chuletas de cordero, chorizo and jamon paired brilliantly...
Bodega Catena Zapata is one of Argentina’s leading wineries. The proud recipient of three separate trophies at the 2016 IWC awards, they are well known throughout the world for their elegant and expressive high-altitude Malbec. Over the next few months, they’ll be teaming up with Independent Wine Merchants throughout the UK to deliver a series of fun and informative masterclasses for consumers. Guests will gain a unique insight into how Catena Alta Malbec is made, by tasting its individual components before blending. They’ll learn about the...
