TOM GETS FIZZICAL: Tom’s blogs

Unlike Conegliano-Valdobbiadene, Trentodoc slips off the tongue of an Anglo-Saxon speaker very easily. Unfortunately, however, this made-up word is rather harsh-sounding to the Italian ear and although there is a cleverness in its construction (Trento + DOC), it does rather scupper any hopes the producers may have of promotion to DOCG!… […]

They are without doubt the world’s greatest dessert-style sparkling wines, yet no Asti and Brachetto d’Acqui performed well in the first year of the Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships (CSWWC). Was this due to receiving entries exclusively from the dregs of the industry or had the overall quality of both appellations nose-dived? I was a man on a mission to find out!… […]

As from 2015, every bottle of Champagne or sparkling wine that is entered into our competition in a clear-glass bottle will be “double-bagged” in black plastic as soon as it is removed from the packaging in which it is delivered … […]

On my recent grand tour of Italian sparkling wine I had arranged a tasting of Asti and Brachetto d’Acqui (see here), but before I got down to work I had two surprises, one nice, one not. The unpleasant surprise was the tasting room: it stank! The pleasant surprise was the Alta Langa DOCG, which I had not requested, but of which there were 20 should I wish to taste them. I had tasted Alta Langa previously, of course, but only as one-offs. I had never tasted as many as 20 at one time, so I accepted the kind offer and [...]

The Metodo Classico DOCG from Oltrepò Pavese is probably one of Italy’s least-known sparkling wines. Indeed, the very words Oltrepò Pavese are enough to make most English-speaking wine consumers ask “What’s that?” Well, “that” is the southernmost appendage of Lombardy and all sorts of wines are produced there, none to much acclaim. So why did I go there? … […]

Even with a full week in northern Italy, the jaunt to Prosecco’s beautiful hillside country was a bit of a stretch, logistically, with all the other sparkling wine regions I would be visiting much further east, but I was hoping it would be worth it for the opportunity to taste blind a significant number of Prosecco DOCG Rive and, from a quality perspective, I was not disappointed. […]

How and where does Crémant d’Alsace fit in the sparkling wine market? I have a very soft spot for Alsace. I love the wines, the food, the people and the whole fairy-tale land that is part of the package, but of all Alsace wines, the one style I have always had difficulty coming to grips with is Crémant d’Alsace. At first I wondered whether it was because I had been spoilt by Champagne and expected too much from Crémant d’Alsace, but I have since found fine and fascinating sparkling wines produced in Italy, California, Australia, New Zealand, England and many [...]

The following was inspired by my own responses to an interview by Benjamin Tucker, for his dissertation on Franciacorta as a brand for a BA Honours degree in Public Relations with Marketing… […]

The inaugural Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships (CSWWC) in 2014 was a great success, uniquely attracting the most iconic Champagnes and sparkling wines in existence, generating publicity worldwide. It is not just about the most illustrious fizz on the planet, but their presence is an endorsement of the unprecedented expertise of the CSWWC and that in turn is an endorsement of the awards won by other, less well-known wines. […]

We are extremely proud of the quality of our Gold and Silver medal winning wines, but it is clear that we did not communicate all aspects of our message to everyone in the first year of this competition. Ultimately the buck stops with me, so here are the points I failed to get across, including the classes I did not communicate with sufficiently, leaving them wide open for entrants to make their mark next year. This is more for producers and potential entrants than for general readers. […]