Author Archives: Simon
Wine Blog – Wine tours
This year we continue our very popular fully escorted residential wine tours from Manoir de Gourin in th Loire Valley, France. If you are interested please log onto our website www.loirewinetours.com to see the range of tours we offer to guests from all … Continue reading
Wine Blog – Old sayings
We had a day out today and tried a new restaurant in Saumur. Le Pot de Lapin run by Oliver who is very helpful and friendly. Enjoyed the meal and a good pot of Saumur Champigny if a litle fresh. It … Continue reading
Wine Blog – Duty increases
The budget brought further duty levy on wine and now we pay £1.90 for a 75cl bottle of still wine and £2.43 for a bottle of bubbly. And do not forget that VAT is added to the total price so … Continue reading
Wine Blog – Pruning
Its April and the pruning of the vines is well finished and now comes the horizontal tieing of the pruned branches to the tie wires. With some flexibility in the vine now in spring the branches can be bent from the … Continue reading
Wine Blog – Black Market in wine trade
Any legitimate wine business will be relieved to hear about the government crackdown on illegal alcohol smuggling. According to a recent article the loss in revenue to the treasury is estimated at £1.2bn. The other side of the coin is the … Continue reading
Wine Blog – 2011 wine tasting
Today I ventured over to Domaine de L'Enchantoir to check up on the progress of the 2011 vintage. Pierre and Brigiite have been busy filtering the Saumur Blanc appellation ready for bottling on Thursday. They were topping up the 8000 … Continue reading
Wine Blog – Black Market
Any legitimate wine business will be glad to hear about the government crackdown on illegal alcohol smuggling. According to a recent article the loss in revenue to the treasury is estimated at £1.2bn. The other side of the coin is … Continue reading
Wine Blog – 2011 tasting
Today I ventured over to Domaine de L'Enchantoir to check up on the progress of the 2011 vintage. Pierre and Brigiite have been busy filtering the Saumur Blanc appellation ready for bottling on thursday. They were topping up the 8000 … Continue reading
Wine Blog – Branding French Wine
France has always maintained its belief in promoting wine in the traditional way of appellation names. In France I suppose thats ok as many people know their own wines. Even that though may not be the case anymore. I mean if … Continue reading