Oeno-File, the Wine & Gastronomy Column

by Frank Ward

Posts Tagged ‘Masters of Wine’

Major Tasting of 37 Top Australian Chardonnays

Posted by Frank Ward on October 19, 2016

October 2016. How good are Australian Chardonnays? I tasted some good ones 36 years ago (and plenty of other white and red varietals) – when Len Evans invited me down to Château Rahoul in the Graves – in Bordeaux of all places! – to deepen my understanding of Australian wines. Not one to let any opportunity slip, he also roped me in to help pick unripe grapes in the catastrophic 1980 vintage, then in progress. Under unceasing rain we got very wet together. Since then I’ve tasted all kinds of Australian wines [….]

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Tasting the 2009 clarets with the Masters of Wine

Posted by Frank Ward on January 12, 2014

January 2014. A tasting of 94 clarets and 12 Sauternes from 2009 was held in London in November 2013 under the auspices of the Institute of Masters of Wine: an ideal opportunity to assess a great vintage at a very good point in its development. Now around two years in the bottle, the wines have had time to recover from the rigours of bottling and to knit together sufficiently well to give a good idea of their overall constitution […..]

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A tasting of California’s most famous Red

Posted by Frank Ward on December 10, 2010

A tasting of eight of the best-ever vintages of Opus One, California’s most celebrated red wine, was recently hosted in London by the Masters of Wine. Including the 1979, the very first vintage, the eight wines were personally chosen by Michael Silacci, who has been in charge of wine-making since 2004...

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