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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