Champagne is home to some of my favourite restaurants in the world, from intimate, homely dining to Michelin-starred decadence of the highest order. I’ve been a regular diner over the past decade and I’m constantly asked for my recommendations, so it’s high time I published my little black book for the very first time! Here’s […]

By popular demand, here’s my Top Ten Wines of 2019 under $20! There’s something here for everyone… Deep Woods Estate Ivory Margaret River Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2019 Leaping from the glass with exuberant, flamboyant freshness, this is a SSB that leads with the pure lemon and cut grass of semillon and supports it seamlessly with […]

My Top Ten Australian Wines of 2019 is purposely not a curated list, but simply the pinnacle of my top-scoring wines of the year. The final line up provides a fascinating insight into Australia’s benchmark styles on the world stage right now: two South Australian cabernet shiraz blends, straight cabernets from Margaret River and Clare, […]

It’s my great pleasure to announce my top ten champagnes of 2019! For full details and reviews, see The Champagne Guide 2020-2021. Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé 2008 In any pursuit, it is only the most daring and courageous who succeed at the very highest level, only the trailblazers who risk everything and take the biggest […]

No French wine region has been revolutionised over the past two decades as dramatically as Champagne. And no appellation has needed it more desperately. For decades, Champagne has been the laughing stock of responsible growers everywhere, notoriously piling on herbicides, fungicides, pesticides, fertilisers and even Parisian rubbish to shamelessly bolster its poor vines to ludicrous […]

Is this the beginning of the end of the grower producer? Forces are at play that threaten the survival of Champagne’s grower producers. Global economies, erratic harvests, incentives from négociants and even the French taxation system itself are driving growers to sell all their fruit, some to relinquish their status and become négociants, and others […]

Does global warming spell certain doom for the region that has built a wine style around its cold climate? Things have hotted up in Champagne since I unravelled the climatic drama that has played out over the past 30 years in The Champagne Guide 2014–2015. The region has responded in force, and it’s time for a sequel.

Matthew Jukes and I are proud to announce The Eighth Great New Zealand Pinot Noir Classification to highlight New Zealand’s finest pinot noirs. New in 2019 In 2019, The Great New Zealand Pinot Noir Classification highlights 121 estates, representing less than the top quarter of New Zealand’s 512 pinot noir makers. This reinforces the strength […]

Is champagne down under stalled, peaked or bubbling along? Welcome to my sixth annual report on the state of champagne in Australia and across the globe. This 30 page report is a free download.

It’s a dramatic watershed year for champagne in the UK. One British champagne importer described it as ‘the looming end of the world’ while the Director General of the Comité Champagne suggests it’s the beginning of a new period for champagne globally. At the rate of current trends, the USA will snatch the UK’s mantle […]