Latest Wine News, Tips & Advice
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.
People who are new to fine wine tasting often report that the labelling of the wine can be confusing; with different terms making it hard to understand a wine’s characteristics.
One of the expressions often seen on wine bottles is ‘varietal’. In this article we shed a bit of light on the meaning of the term, its history and the most popular wine varietals. Read until the end to become an expert and impress your friends at the next dinner party.
2019 in the Rhône is yet another resounding success based both on our tastings and on the comments of the wine critics which include 'stellar year' and 'beautiful, possibly exceptional'.
In advance of our official Mr.Wheeler communication we wanted to let you know that exciting news has started to surface from Bordeaux regarding this year’s delayed En Primeur release. In a nutshell the campaign is officially underway, with a number of notable wines already starting to find their way to the market. Though at this point in time we are witnessing Petits Châteaux releases, with speculation that the region’s star wines will start to appear across June and July, the message from the region is clear...
There will be a 2019 Bordeaux En Primeur Campaign this year.
We tasted a lot of very good Burgundy in 2018, and the quality of the vintage shines through from top to bottom. But something particularly struck us about Pommard this year…
The superb 2018 vintage in Bordeaux was very much the result of two diametrically opposed periods – a very wet first half of the season, with just enough dry weather to allow flowering to happen smoothly, which on the one hand lead to the loss of part of the crop through mildew but, crucially, replenished water tables.
There is simply no doubt that 2017 Burgundy has been a huge hit for the Mr.Wheeler team and our customers alike.
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.