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• Region:Barolo, Barbaresco, Brunello, Champagne, Rhône, Burgundy, Rioja, Loire, Alsace, Germany, Friuli-Venezia

About Me

A passing interest quickly developed into somewhat of an obsession as I invested time in building a collection from my preferred regions and producers. My tastes span a wide spectrum from traditional through to skin contact white wines and wines made by producers who practice a low intervention approach to their viticulture and winemaking. Above all in wine I respect typicity and authenticity. Many wines can be a joy to drink but quickly fade from memory unless they express a clear sense of place.

When it comes to preparation I almost always open wines several hours in advance since in my experience they improve with more exposure to air. Once opened I’ll make a call on whether to decant or not based on how the wine is showing. For aged reds especially Barolo, Barbaresco, and Brunello I’ll always decant these wines for between two and six hours. It’s remarkable how these wines which many would consider lifeless upon opening can blossom into something spectacular with time in the decanter.

As far as scoring is concerned we all know scoring wines is complete nonsense - attempting to distill something so complex down to two or in some rare cases three digits - but we still do it and given this is CellarTracker here's how I do it.

In the interests of complete objectivity all scores compare wines against their peers from the same appellation or classification.

100 - transcendental
98 - impeccable
96 - exceptional
94 - outstanding
92 - superb
90 - excellent
88 - very good
86 - good
84 - above average
82 - average
80 - below average
78 - poor
76 - very poor
74 - exceptionally poor
72 - borderline undrinkable
70 - undrinkable