Wine produced from Nerello Mascalese has intrigued and delighted me since my first visit to the Etna region of Sicily in 2015 where I was privileged to be hosted by a local family.

Whole bunch fermentation is part of the original winemaking process. Crusher-destemmers are a 20th century invention. Prior to their arrival almost all red wines were fermented in whole bunches with their stalks intact, that is, both the main stalk structure of a bunch known as the rachis plus the little bits that attach the berries known as pedicels. Together these stalk components make up between 2% and 5% of the bunch weight and can vary in ripeness and colour from green (unripe) to brown (ripe). In the past, wines made with whole bunches were often rustic and tannic – usually because the stems were green or unripe, but also because an associated reduction in wine acidity increased susceptibility to Brettanomyces.

Last month I achieved a long-held ambition to visit that most famous of German wine regions, the Mosel, specifically the sub-region known as Mittelmosel. Centred on Bernkastel-Kues and stretching from Schleich to Pünderich, the region boasts stunning beauty and dizzyingly steep slate slopes – up to almost 80 degrees, appearing near-vertical. The best of these slopes face south, with the vines held as if by a toaster to the sun and close to the river. The southerly aspect and reflection of light from the river ensure that the Riesling grapes ripen. The slate rock of the slopes is both heat retaining and reflecting, further contributing to ripeness whilst also delivering a distinct “wet-stone” minerality to wines offering an extraordinary and often linear purity.

If you are wondering what on earth I am talking about, I’m not surprised. Just a few weeks ago one of my online contacts mentioned she was studying for her WSET Level 4 Diploma and I asked what her research topic was. “PiWi varieties” she replied, and having no idea what PiWi varieties were, I did some quick research.

I first tasted the Murrieta wines on the occasion of the 170th anniversary release of a special library release: a vertical of six of the Reserva wines from 2012-2017, along with the flagship Gran Reserva Ygay and the 2018 Reserva release. This was in late 2022 or early 2023. I was so impressed I purchased the box set 2012-17 vertical along with a few bottles of the 2018 with the intention of revisiting them in a couple of years.

On Friday evening, 13 June I curated a tasting for Martinborough Wine and Food Society (MWFS), where I am cellarmaster. We “put our toes in the water” of three of the greatest wine regions in France: Burgundy, Bordeaux and Southern Rhone, sampling one red wine and one white wine from each region.

Apparently there are a dozen or so different “classic” wine bottle shapes with all kinds of producer variations. But we can simplify our discussion to three basic shapes that most winemakers bottle their wine with. These are the Alsace/Mosel bottle, the Burgundy bottle and the Bordeaux bottle. You can see them in that order left to right below.

Okay, I admit it, I have a fetish for nice wine glasses. A table set with fine glassware looks fabulous and it is much nicer to drink wine out of a fine glass. But there are so many different wine glasses out there! How does one know where to start in order to put together an adequately minimum set of glasses to entertain guests who enjoy drinking wine? I’ve probably made most of the mistakes that can be made with glass purchases so here are some of the things I have learned that might help you establish or upgrade your glassware.

Feeling rather flat after a great visit to Scandinavia, with no immediate tour bookings and a week till my next workshop, I decided to flit across the Tasman to Melbourne and visit my good friend and old boss from my ChildFund days for a couple of nights. A year or so ago I had visited the Yarra Valley wine region which is not far from Melbourne and on this occasion, I planned a visit to the similarly close Mornington Peninsula, which like my hometown Martinborough in New Zealand, has built a reputation for fine Pinot Noir.