Getting to know wine

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What's worth knowing to enjoy every bottle more: no unnecessary jargon.

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Getting to know wine

Wine scores: what Parker, Peñín, Suckling and co. really mean

What 90 Parker points, 95 Peñín points or 4 Vivino stars mean: how each critic scores and how to use the scores when buying wine.

Types of glass: red, white and sparkling

Which glass to use for each wine: Bordeaux, Burgundy, white, flute or tulip. What really matters in a glass and how many you need.

Wine serving temperature: a quick chart

What temperature to serve sparkling, white, rosé and red wines at, and how to chill or warm a bottle without spoiling it.

To decant or not to decant?

When decanting a wine is worth it, when it isn't, for how long and how to do it without spoiling an old wine.

How wine is made: what I've learnt over the years

From harvest to bottle: night harvesting, cold, oxygen, fermentation, barrel ageing and why the grape skin decides the type of wine.

When the wine is off: wine faults

Cork taint, reduction, volatile acidity, Brett, oxidation, heat damage… How to recognise wine faults, which can be fixed and when to send a bottle back.

Stories and curiosities

Wine stories

Blomberg Selection: where it all began

My family's wines, Blomberg Selection, made in Spain and named after a Swedish estate. That's where my love of Gewürztraminer began.

Why is a Ribera wine called «El Sueco» (The Swede)?

The story behind El Sueco, from Bodegas Virtus (DO Ribera del Duero): a Dalecarlian horse, a family from Peñafiel and a winemaker born in Sweden.

CVNE and Imperial: a railway winery and an English name

How the Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España was born in Haro in 1879 and why its great red is called Imperial: the «imperial pint» of the English market.

Godello: the grape that almost disappeared

In the 1970s Godello barely existed in Valdeorras. The REVIVAL plan rescued it: the story of its recovery and of Guitián (A Tapada), O Luar do Sil and Avancia.