Gambero Rosso Top Italian Wines Roadshow (SG)
You may have heard of Gambero Rosso, and their recently-held Top Italian Wines road show. Gambero Rosso is an Italian food & wine magazine; Mr X calls it the Decanter of Italy. Relevantly, they write about wines, they review wines, and they dish out wine awards. And, Gambero Rosso is literally “red prawn”, thus their logo. […]
Wines of Portugal – Fancy a dry Port?
Portugal, known for its pastries, salted cod, fado music, soccer players, and most importantly, Port wines. Once a powerful maritime empire, today traces of Portugal influence have became tourist attractions in many cities like Macau and Malacca. In the wine aspects, Portugal is synonymous to Port wines. Been so since 1703, looks like it is […]
Le Grappin Tasting 20-Jan
Twitter is a wonderful social media platform. Not only did it allow us #SgWine crew to meet Andrew Nielsen (@legrappin) 2 years ago, it let me on to a tasting session of Le Grappin wines, held on 20-Jan at Caveau Wines + Bar. It’s a good opportunity to finally taste the wines Andrew made, so […]
Turbiana, is it a Trebbiano or not?
Modern DNA profiling ability has enabled researchers to name most grapes and their parentage. But for those who won’t be spending time on reports, they find the proof in the glass. While not always exact, some characteristics that run in the vine family can be tell-tale signs of its lineage, with slight variations attributed to […]
Wine fraternities – Italian Grandi Marchi
I am sorry amici. But whenever I think Italian, the first thing that comes to mind, is Mafia. That’s before pizza, wines, truffles and olive oil. No offence but that’s how Hollywood portrayed you guys. Blame it on Francis Ford Coppola. Istituto del vino italiano di qualità Grandi Marchi, or the Italian Wine Institute of Premium Brands represents nineteen family owned […]
Tolpuddle by Shaw + Smith, exploring Tasmania
New vintage wines make their way into our market every year. But in the era of the modern wine industry, seeing a first vintage today has become something of a rarity. In 2011, Shaw + Smith acquired Tolpuddle vineyard in Tasmania. Having planted Pinot noir and Chardonnay since 1988, Michael Hill Smith MW was in […]
Vasse Felix – Fulfilling nature's potential
A few times I was told that trailblazers often ended up in a fiery ending. They can’t catch up with trends they started nor were they willing to change with tides. But having heard Vasse Felix mentioned so often, I am pretty sure it hasn’t ended its reign as one of the most prominent wineries in […]
California wines – Going beyond familiarity
I know the day will come when an elderly looking man presents his range of everyday drinking wines made from a lesser-known region. Bottles of delicious California’s Central Valley wines, a sincere smile. And after several glasses, I am a happy man.
Frank Family Vineyards – With a personality
One of the toughest pretence in life is to love without feeling, to share without giving and to speak without thinking. Well, perhaps not so difficult for the last one. Sales people often speak great things about wines without sharing the essence and spirit that it embodies. The words spoken often were like post-dinner bottles, […]
James McLaurin, The man with Golden Ball
Word was it takes brass balls to do real estates, so I am certain one would need something better to make wines. After all, one only makes a small fortune with a big fortune. I met the man with Golden Ball, James McLaurin. Instinctive pun got the better side of me, I couldn’t resist asking […]