Day 2 in the Rhone - The South, By Jason Busby

As always an early start with emails at 6am and breakfast at 7.30am then our first tasting at Grand Veneur with Christophe Jaume, the charming joint owner of the estate with an array of Chateauneuf du Pape (CNP for future reference) Blanc and Rouge amongst many other appellations. To mirror the north, quantities may well be down on the norm, but quality is definitely fine. My sort of vintage where there is power but with elegance and pretty fruit, quite often blue fruits which shows the brilliance of our growers and winemakers and a good growing season. 

Day One in the Northern Rhone, By Jason Busby

A good but very long first day as we all started by 5am to get to Gatwick for the red eye to Lyon. A full flight and squashed between the Scot and the former Yugoslav for a few hours waiting the choice moment to get up for a loo break to annoy my learned colleagues.

A cold Lyon awaited us, but swiftly into the car to circumnavigate the airport three times before the United Nations got involved to tell the international community in the front seats THAT way. Safely cuddled into one of the five back seats I watched the dreary landscape scoot by until we finally saw the murky river with so many wonderful vines on its banks, yes Le Rhone. 

Bancroft Wines rated by Fiona Beckett at the Wine Car Boot

Fiona Beckett has recently rated two of our wines on her website Matching Food and Wine following the hugely succesful Wine Car Boot.

The 2013 Harvest at Champagne Medot

Another curious year for Champagne. After a cold, damp winter and a gloomy spring, very chilly and particularly wet, the vines began to grow two weeks later than average over the last decade, remaining two weeks behind throughout their development. 

Ten Minutes by Tractor Pick of the Pinots in Square Meal Magazine

In the recent issue of Squaremeal Lifestyle (Autumn 2013), Ten Minutes by Tractor's 2010 Pinot Noir has been listed as one of the Pick of the Pinots by Jane Parkinson in her article "Pinot Envy".