October is upon us and I thought I would start the season with the latest incarnation of one of our all-time favourites: Mauro VS 2021. First to say well done to those of you who picked up Mauro and Tereus 2021 before the ratings came out. The stock sold out in a flash after the Wine Advocate review was published.   VS is normally held in the barrell (and bottle) for few months longer hence delayed release, but it was worth a wait. To complement it, I will also release their white wine - Mauro Godello 2022 which is …

Beautiful wines of Aurore Bachelet   It’s raining here in Richmond, so I thought I would send you some Burgundy sunshine as captured by a very talented young lady - please meet Aurore Bachelet.  Following business degree and few years of working/traveling around the world, she eventually decided that the heart is where the home is and that the home was back in Burgundy. Not a bad place to call home, especially if your family owns some very fine vineyards in and around the villages of Chassagne Montrachet, Santenay and Maranges. On her return, Aurore spent 5 years working with …

XF Rose 2023 by Marcos Eguren   I know it is supposed to be summer out there, but not sure where the sun had gone to. So, since the sun had been very shy this year, I thought we could reverse the concept in which we drink rose when the sun is shining. Perhaps if we open some rose the sun might decide to join us!?! Worth a try - after all, what do we have to lose? Moving forward, I had managed to get 12 different Roses to my shop last weekend for a tasting to try and pick …

Initial Report on 2023 Bordeaux Vintage   Another Bordeaux tasting week is over and the campaign had kicked of much faster then usual. We have already had few big scalps out this week, so I thought I might as well share my views on this vintage and wines performances. 2023 was one of those vintages that would have been a disaster 25-30 years ago. I am not going to bore you with the details here, but it was a very hard work - only the chateaux with deep pockets have been able to engage enough people to work all the …

Mauro and Terreus 2021 release Most of you are aware of my love affair with all things made by Garcia family and I am glad to announce that after more than 10 years, it is getting stronger and stronger. I am also glad that so many of you are enjoying these wines and write back to me; it makes it all worth a while. Not sure how they manage to deliver such level of quality year in, year out but, I for one, will not complain. The combination of biodynamic practices, improved understanding of high altitude vineyards as well as …

As promised, here is the first of the 2022 Burgundy releases.   Most of you would know that I am quite skeptical about the image and the hype that follows famous estates in Burgundy and rarely make releases from the region. Fortunately, behind all that hype there are numerous young people (away from the limelight) who are working tirelessly and crafting some of the most beautiful wine-lovers wines you will run across. As long as you are open to trying the juice from lesser known villages and producers, you will be in for a treat. The best thing about it …

  2021 release of AALTO and AALTO PS + 2022 AALTO BLANCO   I have spent last week in various Burgundy tastings here in London (just over 450 wines tasted) and have one more week to go. In principle, the wines are showing well and there are even some which are priced so that they are worth buying for home drinking - the full report and recommendations will follow at the beginning of February.   As it has become a tradition at this time of the year, I am glad to offer to you the latest releases from Bodegas AALTO …