I recently tweeted about the lovely Pol vintage 2013. A bottle of 2008 yesterday was less impressive. No problem with closure, vibrant mousse! Dark colour and an emerging bouquet of sherry. A signature of oxidation as opposed to real maturity sadly.

Necessity is the mother of all invention … sometimes even fizz-heads fancy a glass of red (but the corkscrew has gone missing). My only DIY so far in 2022.

Last chance to get wines in for the Tim Atkin England Special Report 2022. It's looking like a big one...a collection of wines I don't think has ever been in one room before! 300 and counting... Tim Atkin Wines of Great Britain

The medal winners for @CSWWC2022 Champagne & Sparkling World Wine Championships are released this morning with 47 Gold & 249 Silver medals awarded from the near 1,000 wines entered. To find out who won what & the judges assessment go to The_Buyer here the-buyer.net/awards/champag…

Underway! Pinot Meunier from West Chiltington (pictured) and a small amount of PN and CH from our Thurnham site (Kent) Nyetimber

Brilliant job, Ed! What a slow-evolving beauty!! First time the World Champion Library Vintage trophy (minimum of 20yrs) has been awarded to a sparkling wine outside of Champagne. That's what I call an accolade!😂 Accolade Wines @EssiAvellan @SugarandYeast skynews.com.au/lifestyle/tasm…

Huge congratulations to Louis Roederer for its sublime, trophy-winning Collection 242 in Magnum! @CSWWC2022 @EssiAvellan @SugarandYeast Roger Jones Rachel Davey Orsi Szentkiralyi

An overlooked (relative) bargain: Champagne Deutz Blanc de Blancs vintage 2010 magnum. Finely cut, zingy Cote des Blancs acidity sitting on top succulent orchard fruit. Extra finesse/complexity provided by the magnum format is enhanced with reductive notes of coffee. 94/100.

Louis Roederer Collection 243, a perfect school night distraction. Showing more body than previously releases though without loss of that spicy, aromatic complexity and sense of freshness. The ripeness of the base year really suits the “collection” formula. 93/100. Lovely!

Champagne thought of the day: when growers / producers use the word “gourmand” to describe newly released champagne, what they mean is “oxidative” or “oxidised”. This is incorrectly perceived as “English taste” and is the cause of tense conversations with winemakers! Hmmph.

Happy New Year! First day back and straight into vineyard lot evaluations for blending. We are starting with Pinot Meunier lots, assessed blind to get detailed notes that can be used for blending trials. Nyetimber

Tasting the latest release from Dom Perignon (2013) and very nice it is too! This tasting note and a general Dom Perignon update article to follow on Tom Cannavan during February! Spritz

39 bottles opened from one disgorgement batch, 39 immaculate corks. Every wine lover should be able to take this sort of reliability for granted, but were these conventional corks 1-6 duffs could be expected from this sample size

I’m going to “Double down” on the use of the term “Double down”. Another ridiculously non-specific phrase trotted out every other sentence in political speeches. My screams go unheard!

Grand Cru Sillery Champagne by Francois Seconde elitistreview.com/2023/03/24/gra…

Celebrating @nyetimber being listed as one of the world’s most instagrammable vineyards with a post on Twitter

Hannah Charnock's latest Maillard reaction paper on the impact of sugar types (ie cane, beet, rectified concentrate etc) is fascinating, although it generates more questions than answers: oeno-one.eu/article/view/7…

Second maturity control check for 2023 Chardonnays from all our « La Cote » estate: Chardonnays from Avize, Cramant, Mesnil-sur-Oger, Oger, Chouilly, Vertus, Epernay! Ripeness is in full motion! #Harvest23 #InPursuitofTaste -JBL

My last bottle of this: got to love Santa Cruz Pinot Noir! Perfect for the last blast of Herefordshire summer. Yum!

In pursuit of velvety tanins! Pinot noir! #HommageaCamille #InPursuitofTaste -JBL