Lay & Wheeler Blog

German Wine: Purity and Elegance: A Regional Tour

Published on 06/08/2015 / By Will Hepworth

The History of German WineIn the late 19th Century the great wines of the Mosel were held in high regard with prices exceeded those of the great First Growths of Bordeaux. The seeds of decline were sown with the rise of industrial scale production...

Rhone 2013 Tasting: Our highlights

Published on 27/02/2015

With every opened box came more and more eager anticipation of the 2013s; anticipation that, it turned out, was well deserved. Rather than relying exclusively on a rambling account from me of what was undoubtedly a great tasting, I asked...

Brunello 2010: 'Vintage of a Lifetime?'

Published on 26/02/2015 / By Robbie Toothill

James Suckling recently labelled Brunello di Montalcino’s 2010 ‘a vintage of a lifetime’. I must admit, I’m wary of such descriptions. They risk devaluing previous and subsequent harvests; what, for example, if there were...

Kumeu River – Burgundy, a world apart?

Published on 07/11/2014 / By Robbie Toothill

But in the meantime, and for the purposes of these few notes, there is one comparison that I’m going to make; that indeed I should make. The wines of Kumeu River are comparable with top White Burgundy. There, I said it.Meaning ‘Pulling...

Ornellaia’s Le Serre Nuove Vertical Tasting 20th October 2014

Published on 22/10/2014 / By Robbie Toothill

The modestly-priced Le Serre Nuove made for an impressive line up, and as Heinz puts it‘Today’s Serre Nuove are probably as good as the early Ornellaia’, partly owing to the increasing vine age, he believes.Desipte the &lsquo...

The sun has got his hat on…

Published on 05/07/2013

Summer is finally here (well, on and off) and, with next week set to be sunny, I urge you to order your summer drinking wines quickly before it disappears again!I tend to drink very seasonally and below are my personal favourites that I will be...