James Bercovici - The Big Red Wine Company

 A quick perusal shows that Fabrizio Battaglino has some well-deserved awards in the 2022 edition including for his 2019 Nebbiolo d'Alba 'Paradi', a wine which is coming into its own well now ( Due Bicchieri ) and the 2020 Roero Arneis 'Bastia', a lovely Arneis with a little more richness than the younger vine 'San Michele' (both also Due Bicchieri,  the latter in the 2019 edition).  Lots of entries too for I Campi, our Veneto superstar estate. This year it has yet another  Tre Bicchieri  but, for the first time (I think) for the regular Valpolicella Superiore in a vintage I have yet to try. If Covid restrictions are eased in time, it will be on my list of addresses to visit while stocks last! Only (a maximum of) one Tre Bicchieri is awarded per estate each year so the red Due Bicchieri  for the Soave Classico "Vulcano' should be regarded as every bit as worthy of the top prize.  Elsewhere, in Decanter last month, Matt Walls' focus on "othe...

Chatting with a friend who has rather enjoyed lockdown, his only apparent gripe is that he is fed up with barbecued chicken. Naturally I berated him, telling him I could think of at least a dozen quick and easy marinades to make the Chardonnay of the meat world tasty and different every time (at least for 12 chicken dinners anyway). I said I would email them to him but then thought I would stick them up here in the hope that some people might add their favourites to the list. Here are four of them... Simplest and easiest of all (but very effective) is a spice mix I bought en vrac at an Auchan supermarket, mixed with a little olive oil and lemon juice. It doesn't really need to be left to marinate at all although there is no harm in letting it sit for a while, of course. A family favourite is Pollo all Diavolo,  which we first encountered more than 25 years ago in Gubbio in Italy. It arrived at the table on fire with a big pile of chips. Spicy and delicious, a simple way ...

Wine stocks have been running low recently. After the dry pasta and paper products flew off the supermarket shelves, it was the turn of the wine aisles to empty and it wasn't long before many people realised they didn't really like what they found there. Rather than give up wine (although, apparently, some people have done precisely that), it soon became clear that wine merchants are in the category of permitted business so many of us saw huge spikes of trade, especially in the run up to Easter weekend. As I say, wine stocks have been running low. It is good news, then, that we have been able to start to replenish our supplies but even better news that our first pallets are coming in today from Italy. I hope this signals that, as we are being told, we are over the worst of the crisis and things will soon start to normalise (not just yet though). I CAMPI is an estate we started to work with a couple of years ago but, for some reason, I never fanfared the arrival of the w...

Oseleta is a grape variety.  That's straightforward then. Go to Jancis Robinson's website to find out more. After all, she and her colleague Julia Harding MW, wrote what must be the definitive guide to grape varieties.  It's not there. Never mind, a good search comes to the rescue. Oseleta has a 'more  tannic structure, minerality and dark berry notes and is very different to the light, more gentle, low tannin of most Valpolicella grapes' according to thedrinksbusiness.com in an online article entitled 'Rare variety adds backbone to Valpolicella'. So now you have a clue as to my interest. I have been keeping quiet about a new range I have just brought into the UK from a rather interesting outfit called ' i Campi ' (which my 'O' Level Latin translates as The Fields). I came across them following a discussion about Soave wines in which I became convinced that there were some seriously good ones out there somewhere (in the Soave zone, ...