Recently I read that one of my wine heroes, Randall Grahm, had sold his famous Bonny Doon Vineyard. Randall is one of my top wine heroes – although I have never met him and only had a few opportunities to taste his California icon wines, they have always been very impressive. He is a hero not only for making great wines, but for being “one out of left field” in a State fixated on Cabernet Sauvignon. Randall’s wines are centred around Rhône blends and in fact he was the original, “Rhône Ranger”. Being a full blown eccentric, not only does he still drive an ancient Citroen (the one that looks like a frog), but he also named his wines eccentrically too, such as “Le Cigare Volant”. He has planted a number of almost unknown oddball grape varieties which he turns into exceptional wines. Read More...

This is the last Blog for the year so we would like to wish you and yours a very Merry and safe Christmas. We hope that 2020 (the Year of the Rat) will be a fabulous year for you, both personally and in the wine business, full of joy with a minimum of disappointments. Although that might be a bit more challenging than usual with most of the “world leaders” behaving like spoilt children/brats. Read More...