This is the story of my inaugural advanced champagne certificate in February 2022. Read the full story including photos and guest reflections. Join me for my next Advanced Champagne Certificate. Read the full story. Join me for my next Advanced Champagne Certificate.

A decent glass is the most important thing you need to make the most of every bottle, and a great polishing cloth is the best way to keep your glass in top form. I couldn’t find the perfect glass polishing cloth, so I created it. I own more than 1000 wine glasses and I wash […]

This is a particularly crucial and dynamic moment for champagne in the UK. Champagne is fast on the move and never before has an annual update been more pertinent. No French wine region has been revolutionised over the past two decades as dramatically as Champagne. And no appellation has needed it more desperately. Champagne is […]

It seems there’s no predicting what Australia’s love affair with champagne will do next. After the first two successive years of decline in champagne shipments since the start of the millennium, the pandemic hit, and with it dire woes of champagne armageddon. While the rest of the world spiralled into a dramatic champagne tailspin to […]

It’s my great honour to invite you to join me to discover the sublime Louis Roederer Cristal 2013 and Cristal Rosé 2013. Cristal has defined the soaring trajectory of the rise and rise of Louis Roederer in recent decades and I cannot recall a back-to-back trilogy as enthralling as 2008, 2012 and now 2013. The […]

It’s my great privilege to invite you to join me to discover the legendary Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill 2012. Sir Winston is the distinguished gentleman of the prestige champagne world. The ever more refined regime of Pol Roger in the vines and the wines has defined a tremendous trajectory for this fabled house over […]

Together with Managing Director Clovis Taittinger, it’s our great pleasure to invite you to join us for the launch of Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 2012. Taittinger’s depth of reach into the Côte des Blancs grand crus has made Comtes de Champagne one of Champagne’s most consistent blanc de blancs, holding an enviable position among the […]

We all need non-alcoholic alternatives. But despite the meteoric growth of this category in recent years, I’ve never found one I can actually drink. Until now. For the past 15 years I’ve been writing and hosting The Great Australian Red Competition with UK wine taster Matthew Jukes, who I’ve grown to admire as possessing the […]

Think you’re getting the best price for your wine purchases? My latest findings might surprise you. In assembling my Top 30 for $30, have a guess who came up trumps with the best price exactly three-quarters of the time: cellar doors, independent retailers or chain stores? Following the viral response to my Top 20 for […]

I’m often asked for a list of my favourite everyday bargain wines. Here are my top 15 right now, readily available around the country, at today’s street prices. Plus my top 5 to order direct from Mike Press Wines. Sparkling Ninth Island Sparkling, $20Ninth Island Sparkling Rosé, $23 White Jacob’s Creek Classic Riesling, $6.60Mike Press […]