Two Gentlemen (orienteering around the industrial estates) Of VinItaly, Verona

Well it started so well, barging in front of the singer Mick Hucknell (he is involved with a vineyard in Sicily, apparently, unusually not making white wine, simply red. Sorry!) to get through customs and Neb charming us a Hire Car upgrade to a weird looking Renault four by four. We hit the Autostrade in good spirits, head and shoulders above the Fiats and Maseratis. It is about 200m from the airport to the industrial estate where the behemoth tasting is held, we managed to cover about 6kms getting to know the local area first.

'Bu-ket-trau-be' - never heard of it!

'Variety is on our nature' is an accurate declaration when it comes to South African wine. Take Bukettraube ('bu-ket-trau-be') for example. Heard of it? Hard enough to pronounce it and we have checked the spelling three times already. Bukettraube is a variety of white grape with a German origin that has found a notable home in the cool high altitude mountain region of Cederberg (approx. 80km north of Cape Town). The variety adapts well to the Cederberg region (it is a ward really as well as a winery and range of mountains), where summers are cooler compared to some of South Africa's other wine areas and rainfall is low.

Chilean Earthquake: Julio Bouchon Winery is levelled but cellars and wine are safe

At Viña Neyen de Apalta in Colchagua, Patrick Valette said, "We wanted to start the white harvest on Thursday but now it's impossible without electricity".

He also reported that the J Bouchon winery near the epicentre of the quake "is safe but his beautiful old winery is leveled."


Source: Decanter.com

Bordeaux 2008 - "Asterix & Obelix" in the land of the Gauls

There has been a lot of speculation about the 2008 vintage, with some reports suggesting it would be better than 2007, while some people felt the weather in 2008 had meant that there was little chance of great wines. I am certain any negative reports before the wines have been tasted have been fed by the downturn in the world and a desire to believe that if you avoid the 2008 vintage you are not missing anything. Some household name wine writers/critics certainly seemed to think so and stated they would not be attending the UGC tastings held last week, a decision I found a little perplexing since this was a vintage where more than ever, their readership would want guidance.

Bancroft's Portfolio Tasting in Mayfair

The 10th of February marked our biannual Trade Tasting at the Lansdowne Club in London's Mayfair. The event this year coincided nicely with the UK launch of The Michel Rolland Collection and our latest agency - Hartenberg Estate from South Africa. Although Michel Rolland was unable to stay with us for the trade tasting his able representatives in the UK, Lahcène Boutouba and David Lesage, guided visitors through these remarkable wines.

On the neighbouring stand, Huibré Hoff, the irrepressibly enthusiastic Export Manager for Hartenberg, made sure nobody passed by without tasting the whole range. Despite the breadth of wines from the estate, the quality remains impressively high. The reds in particular have received numerous plaudits from critics in the UK and overseas and are sure to take the UK market by storm.