Fine Wine | Honest Grapes News Honest Grapes

The Wine’s Bond, In Bond…

The next James Bond movie has been delayed until 2018, so in the meantime we turn our thoughts to another, no less exciting Bond opportunity… Continue reading →

Villa Gresti - Inspirational Story behind a Beautiful Wine

Honest Grapes Wine Advice, Fine Wine & Premium Wine

Historic Wine Made by a Truly Remarkable Family: Not only does Villa Gresti come from one of the most important wineries in Italy (San Leonardo consistently produces the most highly-rated Bordeaux blends in Northern Italy), but the story behind the name is simply astonishing. Tom Harrow has been to visit on a number of occasions and as you can see astonishing really is the word to describe this beautiful place. Continue reading →

Bordeaux "Non-Primeur" - 2014 too good to buy now?

Honest Grapes WineChap, Fine Wine & Grand Crew Classe

From our Wine Director Tom Harrow: I got back from a holiday in Bordeaux on Monday – (coals to Newcastle in the middle of en primeur season for a wine consultant perhaps) and the weather, company and wines were splendid. I’m not sure it’s enough however to convince me that the pending 2014 campaign is going to amount to much… Continue reading →

Maturing Penfolds 95-point magnums – RWT: The Connoisseur’s Grange?

Honest Grapes WineChap, Fine Wine & Grand Crew Classe

From our wine director, Tom Harrow: I hosted an illuminating tasting of Penfolds top BINs earlier this month in the magnificent Penfolds Room at David Linley in Belgravia, which you enter through a cupboard in a Narnia-like fashion, including a selection of rare older vintages. I have always felt that it’s wines like BIN 389 (Poor Man’s Grange), St Henri Shiraz and especially the RWT (the non-nonsense Aussie abbreviation of Red Winemaking Trial) that represent great value for fine wines but are not well known in Europe and are rarely enjoyed with sufficient age to define and differentiate their complexities. Continue reading →

Tom's Top 10: Burgundy 2013

Honest Grapes Fine Wine & Grand Crew Classe

We've talked Burgundy 2013 before, but, following on from some client questions, our wine director Tom has put together his top 10 - specifically the best mid-term drinking and longer-term cellaring wines from the vintage. Continue reading →

#WineShrink on the couch with Marchese Anselmo, San Leonardo

Honest Grapes Fine Wine, Grand Crew Classe, Video & WineShrink

“…one of the great wines of Italy… Sassicaia and San Leonardo seem like brothers separated in childhood.” Wine Advocate, December 2014 “Surely the most successful Bordeaux blend of Northern Italy” Jancis Robinson, August 2012 Continue reading →

All About Rioja

Honest Grapes Fine Wine, Grand Crew Classe, Video, Premium Wine & Wine of the Week

@vinologue @gilescooke totally agree. Too much cheap Rioja in hairnets on the market. — Tim Atkin (@Timatkin) February 24, 2015 Part two of this week’s Spanish offer takes us to Rioja (see Part 1, our Priorat offer here), a region which in many respects is a victim of its own success. Considered as reliably top end of basic – “the running-late-to-dinner, grab-from-corner-shop-for-£7 sort of wine” – Rioja often struggles to rise higher in the consciousness of the drinking public. This is of course a shame as there is unrivalled value at the Reserva level and above from the region as well as some smaller, more artisan producers who make fabulously characterful Crianza, increasingly and unusually solely from their own vineyards. Continue reading →

Priorat’s Finest, Points Abounding…

Honest Grapes Fine Wine, Grand Crew Classe & Video

From our wine director, Tom Harrow: The other week at a tasting Nathan and I met winemaker Ester Nin, one of the stars of Priorat – responsible not only for I Terrasses Clos Erasmus (a back to back 100-point scorer in 04 and 05!) but also, with husband Carlos, their fabulous and amazing value Nit de Nin wines nearby. It’s hard to think of more fashionable and sought after fine wines than Priorat currently – and alongside Rene Berbier (Clos Mogador) and Alvaro Palacios (Ermita), Daphne Glorian (proprietor of I Terrasses) is at the cutting edge of Spain’s wine revolution. Continue reading →

98-point Brunello 2010 En Primeur

Honest Grapes Wine Advice, Fine Wine, Grand Crew Classe & Video

From our Wine Director, Tom Harrow: I have been vociferously enthusing about 2010 Brunello since tasting variously in 2011 and 2012 from barrel (also see my How to Spend It - Divino Tuscany report). James Suckling stole a march on other wine writers (much to their chagrin) and organised a pre-release December tasting of this recently-bottled vintage of the millennium, giving the expected stratospheric scores which have made it impossible to wait any longer to mention as buyers are now jostling for allocations. Continue reading →

Wine Experiences of 2014 - part 1

Honest Grapes WineChap, Fine Wine & Grand Crew Classe

Our Wine Director Tom Harrow looks back at the year that has passed... An Indian Summer rescued what was threatening to be a disastrous Bordeaux and Burgundy vintage, England’s vineyards enjoyed their second sound harvest in a row, and Q4 showed the first up-swing in the fine wine market for three years. More importantly 2014 saw the team at WineChap form the nexus of newly launched wine marketplace Honest Grapes and I drank some bloody good bottles around the world. I’ve listed my Top 20 wine experiences of the year, which is a sneaky way of slipping more wines in as there were a few that came in pairs and even one quartet where it would be rude to single out individuals… Continue reading →