Blog Entries

The Package Deal

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:00:00 +0100

Packaging matters, no matter what the industry.

Recently, in fact as recent as about five minutes before I started writing this, I received something about how wine packaging is undergoing change. South Africa has launched a new campaign about how their new light-weight bottles would help the economy, environment and the people of the world in general. The new bottles with screw-cap will weigh 350 grams, about 150 grams lighter than previous versions. Sure it doesn [...]

Wine Vows

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:00:00 +0100

I find it not so surprising that the word ‘vow' rhymes with ‘wow'. The minute you use the first one, others exclaim the second, and that is mostly because the word vow, by construct, seems wired to fail. In fact so linked are the two words that in both in the Indian and Iberian sub-continent and peninsula, even the pronunciation is almost the same and unless you were aware of the context the word was used in, you would never know which one it was. Luckil [...]

A wine writer�s year

akash@envigo.co.uk — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 17:00:00 +0100

July, August and December are the only quiet months for UK wine writers. For the rest of the time, there may well be a wine tasting or wine event every day of the week, sometimes more than one, to the extent that Harpers Wine and Spirit, the trade magazine - contrasted to Decanter, the consumer magazine - along with the Circle of Wine Writers (of which I have the honour to be the current President) manages what is called The Wine Trade Diary. Countries or companie [...]

Comparing Competitions

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:00:00 +0100

So they say competition is a good thing. It brings out the best in us. Well, I don't believe so. Not always. Especially not when I’m losing. But that rarely happens. Like never. So I don't really know exactly what I’m complaining about.

Moving on then.

I have been one of the few who have judg [...]

My hectic December

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 17:00:00 +0100

The last few weeks have been quite eventful, at least for me. I still haven’t managed to earn my Bentley but I work relentlessly, days on end, for that. Other things have however managed to keep my spirits alive and singing.

The first is the onset of winter. Most people stack away the summer wardrobe and bring out the [...]

Aperitif-ly speaking

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 17:00:00 +0100

First is an important position. You never forget the first time. First impressions are definitely lasting, if not the last. The first cut is the deepest. So, on that thought, the first drink is perhaps the most important of the evening.

An aperitif is meant to ignite the appetite, leave you wanting more to appease the senses. Generally wine and wine-based dr [...]

Rising stars of the New Portugal

akash@envigo.co.uk — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:00:00 +0100

The Old World encompasses more than just France, Italy, Germany and Spain. Portugal is often overlooked, but has recently become much more visible due to its increasing quality standards and continued modest pricing.

The Wine Society of India's Spring Selection will be a focus on Spain and Portugal, hence this blog's focus on Portugal.

The Douro, the wine region in northern Portugal, is named after the river Douro that is known as the Duer [...]

Wine Sense

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:00:00 +0100

Magandeep Singh blogs for the Wine Society of India about his adventures in the world of wine:

Wine sense is, personally speaking, a very important wine term. It symbolises all that is really needed for enjoyment: the wine, and the sense. While a million people write about wine, dissecting it, turning it over and around, very few people actually take the time to enjoy it.

This is exactly why wine sense is most similar to, and also almost as rare as, common sense [...]

Reading Wine Labels

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:00:00 +0100

Most people tend to read the words on a wine label about as much as they read the articles in Playboy. This is not a good thing if you are, let’s say, not absolutely versed with human anatomy, or the insides of a wine bottle! It always helps to know your way around, so to say.

A wine label is like a synopsis of the wine, attached to the bottle. It is part ID card, part storyteller for the wine it represents. You can acquire data and much more from it. Here is how it goes.

1. [...]

The Juice on Cognac

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:02:59 +0100

1. Cognac is pronounced ‘Con-yak’…don’t ask why.

2. All brandy ain’t Cognac, just like all Indians aren’t Punjabis! You have to be made in the region of Cognac to enjoy the classification. But it is fruit-based (grapes!) and hence for those who are scared of mixing their spirits, you could transfer between this and wine without a ‘souci’ in the world!

3. Cognac is not expensive just because it is old or because it is blend [...]

Tasting the finest from France

akash@envigo.co.uk — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:00:00 +0100

During the past month I have attended three in-depth tastings at Decanter magazine, covering wines and vintages that are just now coming onto the market. These tastings are of course blind, but the vintage and appellations are known, so comparisons are fairly tight. The tasters are drawn from specialists in each region, always a smattering of Masters of Wine (MWs), and wines that have received an average of 18.5 and above on the 20 point scale - a Gold Medal ranking in the Decanter World Wine [...]

A testing week at Vinexpo

akash@envigo.co.uk — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 17:00:00 +0100

Blog: Steven Spurrier

"Our vineyards cover only 4% of the whole region, but represent 34% of wines sales and 95% of the estates are family-owned". This statement made at a morning conference at Vinexpo (the world's largest wine trade fair) in Bordeaux last June did not refer to the Haut-Medoc, but to the Napa Valley. Family ownership seemed the over-riding theme to this bi-annual jamboree, where low-ish expectations of the exhibitors in the current economic [...]

The recession aftermath

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 17:00:00 +0100

There is always a hedonistic downside to recession and I don't mean people losing jobs; work is by no means a luxury and no one should ever stoop down so low to afford some. I mean the replacement of the French hand-churned unsalted butter with an industrial spread. I am talking about the Bresse Poulet and the Australian lamb being substituted with local birds and sheep that are too skinny to be kept alive. Recession hits all areas but it leaves the most foul of tastes in the one industry [...]

If I had a penny

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 17:00:00 +0100

Blog: Magandeep Singh

If I had a penny for:

1. Every vineyard manager who tells me his terroir is unique
2. Every wine consumer who told me screw caps are not good for wine
3. Every sommelier who told me he suggests red wine with red meat
4. Every third person with an accent who claims to be a Sommelier
5. Every second person with a laptop and an internet connection who claims to be a wine writer
6. Every wine snob who tells me how I am not adequately concerned a [...]

From Spain to Oz

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 17:00:00 +0100

There are two types of travel: the one that enriches you, teaches you about different cultures and customs and broadens your mind. Then there is the other type: the one where the only thing you rack up is frequent flyer miles. Luckily for me, none of my trips are so devoid of joy. Ironically, none of my trips are devoid of rich food and lavish drink either and I always return a man with a weightier presence.

Going from the West to the South and East so fast can make the mind spin [...]

Spanish Wines

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 17:00:00 +0100

Spain is one mad country, in a good way of course. I may not understand many things about the Spanish - their love for killing animals, their refusal to effectuate the ban on smoking in public places, their belief that ham is fat-free and even curative, and their denial that Tempranillo can often exhibit an oxidised edge!

I am the first to admit that I know nothing about Spanish wines (or wines in general, or anything else for that matter). Quite a miracle then how I make it through my [...]

The Berlin Tasting

akash@envigo.co.uk — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 17:00:00 +0100

Blog: Steven Spurrier

My last communication was on The Importance of Comparative Tastings, telling the story of a tasting I organised in Paris in 1976 that compared (blind, of course) California Chardonnays against top white Burgundies and California Cabernet Sauvignons against the finest chateaux from Bordeaux. This tasting, where a California wine was judged top in both categories, became known as "The Judgement of Paris". It was the first comparativ [...]

Superlatively Singapore

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Sun, 24 May 2009 17:00:00 +0100

If you have been bored enough to follow my writings, then you might have marked that I show rare signs of any improvement at all. Unrelated a comment as that may seem, I just thought I'd put it right there in the beginning. Pity has its fan following too.

But if writing lacks the fervour to move you, just on certain rare occasions, where such an excuse is the best permissible defence, we can blame the lack of events to write about and save the writer looking for a new job. This ar [...]

The Final Judgement

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Sun, 17 May 2009 17:00:00 +0100

So here I am in the most metropolitan city in the world, where English has been relegated to an optional language and you can hear more tongues in a single bus ride than Christopher Columbus did on his entire trip. This is London and I am here with a purpose, for a change, that doesn't just involve shopping till my bank feels a minor dent in its holdings, and my accountant has a minor cardiac!

I am here, in fact, to judge at a wine competition, and a very prestigious wine competitio [...]

The Importance of Comparative Tastings

akash@envigo.co.uk — Sat, 16 May 2009 17:00:00 +0100

Blog: Steven Spurrier

One of the great joys of wine lies in comparisons. Even if a type of wine can stand on its own - Champagne is the perfect celebration glass for example - there is no reason not to compare the taste of one Champagne to another, or of Champagnes in general to the excellent sparkling wines made all over the world. Another fascinating comparison is that of a young wine from a certain estate to an older, more mature version: same soil, same grapes, same win [...]