Latest Wine News, Tips & Advice
Wines for casual drinking are a must. Wines we must have. Wines to live by. In metaphorical terms, the straight-trotting, post-work-horses we routinely dismount at the Relaxation Ranch without pondering too much over what's just galloped from palate to gullet. Wines to be had for fewer guineas. Wines we really do drink.
“This is one of the best days of my life”, proclaimed my nan last summer while we visited Château Canet’s property in the Minervois. And doubtless did sitting by the estate’s pool to take relief from the 38-degree heat, whilst enjoying their Domaine d’O chardonnay, do much to fuel her euphoria!
Split, Demi, Standard. Litre, Magnum, Double Magnum, Jeroboam. Methuselah, Salmanazar, Balthazar, Nebuchadnezzar. Melchior, Solomon, Sovereign, Goliath.
Melchizedek.
A Methuselah is a.k.a. an ‘Imperial.’ A Goliath a ‘Primat,’ and Melchizedek a ‘Midas’.
There you are. In so many names, all the vessels you need for consuming the world of wine.
Except now you're wondering what these terms mean by way of liquid volumes and how many servings they distribute upon pouring.
Ready?
That a wine would be unsuitable for those on a vegetarian or vegan diet may seem baffling to new wine enthusiasts. There is, however, a lot more than just grapes involved in the art of winemaking.
Fining agents are often added following the initial fermentation to clear a wine from sediments and enhance its appearance. And with many commonly used clarifying agents deriving from animal products, this can render a wine non-vegetarian.
In this article we take a more in-depth look at the additives which make a wine non- vegetarian. At the end we will also give you our top choices of vegetarian-friendly wines.
How’s the red Bordeaux 2015 vintage looking, these eight years on? If you’re a claret drinker wondering whether to hold out on the 2015 vintage or hold out the corkscrew, here’s some advice by way of an offer we’d recently issued on six red Bordelaises cuvées of this same year. Learn here about how the 2015 growing season fared, what general characteristics this imbued (in its reds, more specifically), and why we felt the time was right to now make more noise about a year firmly inscribed in the good books of critics’ great vintages.
If wine is made just of grapes, then why is there the need for some wines to be labelled specifically as vegan? Well, the straightforward answer is because animal byproducts are commonly used during the winemaking process to produce wine that is clearer and brighter in colour.
Lamb may not be everyone’s first preference among red meats, however those who are partial to a succulent chop or cutlet yet not so well-grounded in wine pairings will wonder whether to uncork a red, white or rosé before tucking in. And if when pairing wine with lamb your instinct is toward red wines, you may then wonder which reds are best?
With the festive season fast approaching, many of you might be starting to look for the best Christmas wines to serve with the big family dinner. Choosing the perfect wine for Christmas can be a task much larger than you assume. The wide variety of food served at the festive spread means that you simply cannot have only one wine to pair with everything on the table.
Four superb hand-picked wines that have since received solid, 5-star reviews from our drinking audience. News very much worth sharing to ensure you don’t miss out on the serious drinking pleasure a good many have recently discovered. And frankly speaking, any wine in our portfolio landing full stars from the discerning drinker is our job done - it’s why we do what we do.
As the wines of the Languedoc continue to go from strength to strength, it's inspiring to see their level of quality rise where prices remain low.
The appellation of Minervois sits to the north of the famous Canal du Midi, alongside Corbières, and is arguably the most famous sub-regions of the Languedoc. It also happens to be the source of our latest southern French gem: 2020 Minervois from Château Beaurivage.
When you’re thinking of what to drink with steak, the first answer that springs to mind is normally wine. And not just any wine, you usually picture a glass of fine full-bodied red wine.
The combination of a tender beef steak and a bottle of ruby red is almost inseparable in fine dining. Beyond the number one rule of wine pairing: reds with reds, there’s a good reason why steak and wine go hand in hand.
Wine and curry sounds like an unlikely combination, after all millions of people all around the country swear by a pint of beer with their chicken tikka masala. However, a glass of wine can be just as delightful with your curry dish.
10 Best Wines to Gift for Father’s Day
If you’re stuck for gift ideas for Father’s Day why not go for a classic wine? A nice bottle of wine can be the perfect way to make your dad feel special and appreciated. Pair this with a delicious home cooked dinner and you have the recipe for a Father’s Day success.
At Mr Wheeler’s we’re known for helping you choose better wine. Our range includes hand selected white wines, red wines and sparklers from some of the very best artisan and well-known winemakers from around the world.
In this wine guide we want to give you some inspiration for wines to give this Father’s Day. Here are our top choices:
We’re all familiar with the reputation of viniculture and its association with the inexplicable terminology and impossible rhetoric of pretentious wine pseudos. But at Mr.Wheeler, we feel that fine wine and the lexicon that orbits it really needn’t be so impenetrable. Wine often speaks for itself when you sip.
Because we choose better wine at Mr.Wheeler, we think some wine terms are worth defining in an accessible and understandable way. We want to help wine lovers expand their oenological vocabulary along with their palate. This is why we have created an A to Z wine glossary which covers all the important terms every wine lover should know.
Dry White Bordeaux is one of the wine world’s most exciting, yet regularly overlooked wine styles. Having been blessed with the opportunity to taste extensively in the region on numerous occasions, the Mr.Wheeler team always returns to the UK full of excitement about the Sauvignon Blanc and Semillion blends enjoyed during their travels.
At the end of January the Mr.Wheeler team were treated to an extensive blind tasting of Red Bordeaux with an upper budget of £15 a bottle from our current portfolio. The aim? To understand the true value of our wines in the glass, to spot strengths, weaknesses and to understand the true depth of our offering. Unbeknownst to us, our Buyer, Ben Godfrey, introduced a “ringer” to the tasting. We’re extremely pleased he did!
Sauvignon Blanc's popularity seems to grow and grow, with no signs of this changing just yet. As the British palate has developed a taste for drier, more aromatic whites, Sauvignon Blanc has come into its own. Few varieties can match its fragrant, zesty and refreshing youthful appeal.
Day three of my 2017 Bordeaux tastings was met with a bright and sunny start as we escaped Bordeaux city for the rolling hillside of the region’s Right Bank. St Emilion and Pomerol lay in wait and most importantly for my palate, a break in play from the tannic impact of young Cabernet Sauvignon led wines!
Day two in Bordeaux’s Left Bank and our attention turned to the classic communes of St Julien, Margaux and Pauillac. Pessac-Leognan had already provided a delicious range of wines, where the very best examples displayed delicious candied notions of redcurrant, with vibrant freshness and well integrated tannins. La Mission Haut-Brion and Haut-Brion itself led the way as the star wines of the campaign so far, for both red and dry whites.
Following the excellent preceding twin vintages of 2015 and 2016, it was never going to be the easiest task for 2017 Bordeaux to fire the imagination of buyers. Quality across those two vintages had been brilliantly received by critics and private customers alike. Many wines ticked all the boxes for both high quality drinkability, whilst also delivering strong investment credentials for those buyers who were so inclined.
Increasing numbers of people are flocking to virtual wine sellers, opting to purchase their fine wines online and taking advantage of the many benefits that online retailers have to offer.
Better wine drinking means experiencing a greater level of enjoyment and satisfaction. For us, it is about empowering Mr.Wheeler customers to be able to choose wines based on knowledge and insight provided by us, and an understanding of what they enjoy. It’s a constant battle to convince people to “buy better” with so much choice out there in the supermarkets – but when you do and taste the difference, my goodness it’s worth the extra.