TMG Blog

Two similar dark bottles of red wine side by side on a cellar table, one cork freshly pulled, oak barrel shadows behind — A second wine has its own job
Bordeaux

Pichon Baron and what its second wine is really for

Someone brings a bottle to dinner in Wan Chai, the label says Pichon, and half...
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A weathered stone boundary marker half covered in ivy at a vineyard edge with a gravel path beyond — Left off the list, not lesser
Bordeaux

Phelan Segur and the Saint-Estephe the 1855 list left out

Every ranking is a shortcut for something you cannot check yourself. A restaurant guide is...
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Stacked wooden storage crates with faded stencil marks in a dim warehouse aisle, a chalkboard tally leaning against the base — Bin numbers are codes not ranks
Australia

Penfolds bin numbers are codes, not a ranking

There is a particular kind of confusion that only happens with numbers. Tell someone a...
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Old vine rows pressed against a red brick urban wall with faint rooftops in the distance — A city grew around this vineyard
Bordeaux

Pape Clement and the vineyard the city grew around

There is a tram out of central Bordeaux that runs west towards the airport. Get...
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A weathered stone moat wall beside young grafted vine stakes and an old iron gate hinge, morning mist over gravel rows — Vineyard change moves slowly
Bordeaux

Chateau Olivier and the long lag on vineyard change

If a wine estate decides today to fix a problem in its vineyard, the first...
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Iron rich clay and limestone chunks scattered across a wooden crate, a glass of dark red wine casting a long shadow — Tannin traces back to the soil
Bordeaux

Montrose, Saint-Estephe and where the tannin comes from

Take a mouthful of young Cabernet and something happens that has nothing to do with...
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Dozens of identical Champagne glasses lined in rows on a steel tasting bench, a blending beaker and pipette beside stacked ledgers — Consistency is the harder skill
Champagne

Moet & Chandon and the hard work of tasting the same

A wedding banquet in Tsim Sha Tsui gets through forty bottles of Champagne over four...
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A tall wine bottle fitted with foil capsule caps in black, green and gold beside a single glass of pale gold Riesling — Spatlese is not always sweet
Germany

Markus Molitor and why Spatlese does not mean sweet

A customer asks for a dry white and gets handed a German Riesling labelled Spatlese....
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A short stack of mahjong tiles beside a single oak cask bung and stave, one filled whisky glass standing alone — A single cask is one barrel
Producer Guide

The Mahjong Project and what a single cask really is

A barrel of whisky is a tradeable object, and it moves around more than most...
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Two whisky glasses of near identical deep amber liquid, one against a dark sherry stained cask stave, the other against plain oak — Dark colour is not older whisky
Producer Guide

Macallan, sherry casks and why colour misleads

Two glasses on the same table. One is pale, almost like white wine. The other...
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Large water worn gravel stones piled beside a cut vine root with dark clay visible beneath — Deep gravel shapes the fruit
Bordeaux

Lynch-Bages and what deep Pauillac gravel tastes like

If you dig a pit in a Medoc vineyard, the interesting part is not the...
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A row of clear glass Champagne bottles beside opaque dark ones on a chalk cellar shelf, a narrow shaft of light crossing — Reserve wine offsets light strike
Champagne

Louis Roederer, light strike and the reserve wine behind it

Leave a bottle of pale wine on a bright windowsill for an afternoon and it...
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Recent Post

Macallan TIME : SPACE Sherry Cask and Mastery
Glass Notes
Glass Notes: Macallan's yellow case is out. Why is the red one selling for half? 黃盒上市，紅盒點解跌咗一半？
Neat rows of dark oak whisky casks stacked beneath a wooden warehouse roof, a single dram glass resting on a barrel head — One distillery, its own casks
Producer Guide
Yamazaki and why Japanese distilleries do not swap casks
Fossil flecked grey limestone fragments with tiny oyster shell imprints scattered on dark soil beside a pale tinted glass of white wine — Kimmeridgian rock shapes Chablis
Burgundy
William Fevre, Chablis and what Kimmeridgian rock does