Tasmania – a masterclass with Michael Hill-Smith MW
Michael Hill-Smith MW is the co-founder of Shaw and Smith in Adelaide Hills, and of Tolpuddle Vineyard in Tasmania. He put together a masterclass to show what Tas is doing best, namely sparkling, riesling, chardonnay and pinot noir.
The cheeky boys
Champagne Jacquesson is owned by the Chiquet brothers. I only met one brother, Jean-Hervé, and he was disarmingly charming and had a mischievous glint in his eye. I couldn’t resist the weak English pun.
The pendulum of Champagne and Prosecco
One from a couple of years ago, looking at the rise of Prosecco and not-quite-fall of Champagne. Connected?
Franciacorta – the blink of an eye in 40 years?
The year 1961 was an illustrious vintage in that most traditional of wine regions, Bordeaux. But it was also a seminal year for Italy’s Franciacorta –the year a handful of producers started making traditional method sparkling wine, from just 29 hectares of vines. This marked a notable change for a region with a winemaking history […]
Crémant de Savoie
France has a new crémant appellation. Sparkling wines from the Crémant de Savoie appellation can start to be marketed from December 2015.
Coates and Seely
Ex-city financier Nick Coates and Christian Seely, of AXA Millesimes managing director pedigree, first met over a quarter of a century ago. They got back together in 2008 to create the Coates and Seely English sparkling wine label.
Advantage Tasmania
With increasing demand for cool climate wines and wines that are fresh and refreshing, Tasmania is truly on song.
Jenkyn Place Vineyard
The nearly five hectares of Jenkyn Place Vineyard lie at around 100m altitude, on a gentle, chalky, south-facing slope of the North Downs.
Crémants from Maison Simonnet Febvre
Maison Simonnet Febvre are the only winery in Chablis making sparkling wine, and about a quarter of their total production is Crémant
Tasmanian sparkling wine
It’s been estimated that some 40% of the total Tassie harvest tonnage goes into making sparkling wine. That’s some three-quarters of the chardonnay grown and one third of the pinot noir grown on the island state. It’s all about the cool climate.
