The latest in wine news and events

South African Chenin Blanc: a top 11

By Jamie Goode | 30 October 2017

Recently I took part as one of the three judges in a tasting of Chenin Blanc wines from around the world for The World of Fine Wine. This is a high-end wine magazine that's aiming to cover the world's best wines, and in each issue they have reports on a number of focused tastings, and this was one of them.

The good thing about these tastings is that rather than simply produce a group average score (they do this too), they give the scores of each of the three judges. This is interesting because it lets you see where the experienced judges disagree. For me, one of the most interesting things about fine wine is that even experts come to different conclusions, sometimes. In some cases this could be because even the best tasters have off-moments. Tasting blind is tricky and sometimes you just get a wine wrong. But in other cases, experts genuinely disagree. Wine is complex, and even if we try hard, our personal tastes can get in the way when we try to reach a consensus.

An epic tasting of MCC

By Jamie Goode | 20 July 2017

On a recent trip to South Africa, I was treated to a remarkable, one-off tasting. It was of Mèthode Cap Classique (MCC), which is the South African name for bottle-fermented sparkling wines. Canadian wine journalist Treve Ring, who I was travelling with, has a keen interest in sparkling wine, as do I, and so we were thrilled when WOSA managed to get word out that we wanted to do a serious, in-depth deep-dive into MCC, to see how things are going with sparkling wines here.

Saving Old Vines

By Jamie Goode | 6 July 2017

There's a lot of buzz around the subject of old vines in South Africa at the moment. To the outsider, this may seem very strange, but one of the keys to making fine wine is working with older vines, which, for one reason or another, seem to produce grapes that make more interesting wines. South Africa is very lucky because it has a treasure trove of old vineyards, many of which are currently unrecognized because their grapes are being sold cheaply, only to disappear into large blends. Now there is a concerted effort underway to identify all the old vineyards, and ensure their survival by making sure they are financially viable, lest they be pulled out.