Winery Bent RoadLa Petite Mort Albariño

Tongue firmly in cheek, I sometimes define ‘wine consultant’ as ‘someone lacking employment who will work for whoever pays them’. Although meant in jest, the implied question is valid: just what does a wine consultant do? More importantly, in this age, when every assistant in a retail shop styles him- or herself a sales consultant, who would hire one? The short answer is this: a wine consultant is someone who advises wine lovers about their passion. He or she advises buyers on what to buy (and a ...

Collectors contemplating the dizzying spiral of prices often decide that the time is ripe for profit-taking. Some may decide that they will never drink their way through their cellar, while others feel they could not in good conscience enjoy wines that, in many cases, have appreciated tenfold since their purchase. Many, or most, collectors begin with wine enjoyment rather than investment as their primary goal. Still, as prices continue to climb, it becomes harder and harder to ignore insistent p ...

We all have different motives in choosing wine. There are those hoping for a journey into unexplored regions of sublime sensation, and those with earthier desires, happy when the first glass has them seeing double. There are wines to accommodate them both: a prickly little Mosel on the one hand and a 15% Barolo on the other. Doesn’t the ideal wine, though, combine the two – inspiration with stimulus, perfume with punch? The three little letters ‘abv’ (alcohol by volume) only tell half the story, ...