The Wine Show

It is very last minute I know, but if you are keen to explore more wines from around the world you might want to check out the show going on RIGHT NOW at the Business Design Centre in London.

The Wine Show is a consumer event that I believe is in its third year already and attracts over 10,000 people to try all sorts of wines.

Last year it was quite exciting (some interesting Greek wines stand out in my memory) and I must admit I think this year's show is a little dull in comparison, but for consumers who want to learn about wines, it is always worth seeking out opportunities to try wines like this.

I did see a number of smaller producers and specialist importers had small stands that I'm sure would be worth exploring, but unfortunately I did not get a chance to linger.

I believe today (Saturday) is sold out, but there may be tickets for tomorrow.

If you do go, let me know what you think of the show.

Vintage time

Vintage is a great time, ... for spectators.

I am not exactly getting my hands dirty (although I can claim to have picked 'some' grapes this year at least), but my day job has certainly kept me busy recently.

The great news is that it has taken me to the vineyards regularly throughout the last few weeks as this is when the 'real' business happens - grapes are picked, wine is fermented, winemakers are sweating and shouting, and the vineyards themselves look fabulous.

It has made me realise quite how fraught a business it is, with the stress of the entire year's work, and the next year's revenue, resting on the result of these few weeks. However, I wouldn't have missed it.

It has meant that more philosophical meditations on wine & the culture of wine, beyond "which of those bottles I drank last night was responsible for the way I feel this morning?" (probably the last one), have been beyond me. However, things will start to settle down in a week or two when I plan on re-attacking my preferred subjects with renewed gusto having made some interesting discoveries, and new friends, over these weeks.

A presto!

A hole lot of wine - for fun

I was playing with the Google Maps tool the other day and noticed a cool little widget.

Dig a hole through the Earth. Point your icon at anywhere on the globe and it will burrow straight through the Earth and tell you where it came out.

I thought I'd try it for a few wine regions, finding out how close the Northern/Old World hemisphere regions were to their Southern/New World counterparts.

Surprisingly, there were almost NO matches where a region somewhere in the world was precisely "the other side of the world". I did get a couple of close matches. Any guesses what they might be?


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just giving you a chance to think about it


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Well, the closest was an area between Galicia and the Rias Baixas region of North West Spain, and the Douro in Portugal which is almost exactly opposite the Nelson & Marlborough regions in New Zealand (well, close)

Drilling through from the main wine producing regions of Chile and Argentina you'd land in China. Unfortunately I have no idea where wine is made in China and it is a BIG place, so chances are it is way off.

Just a bit of fun.