My aim is to build – progressively, one article at a time – an expert informational website, of interest and of value to industry professionals, students, and wine lovers alike.
Starting with WINE, you will find a particular focus on an appellation very close to my heart, SAINT EMILION. This is normal, I live just 15 minutes from the town, so I get to go there quite a lot ! Famous, but not always understood, often criticised for real or perceived excesses, I believe there are many fascinating stories here that deserve in-depth research and telling : a complexity of localised terroir influences unrivalled in the Bordeaux region (“St Emilion is the Burgundy of Bordeaux”, anyone ?), a creative storm of viticultural and enological innovation in an allegedly archi-conservative wine region, a thousand years of history that have shaped the structure and ambition of the town’s wine industry, and of course all those controversial classifications…
Beyond Saint Emilion, the site will travel wherever I do, from the lesser-known communes of the Bordeaux hinterlands to the Grands Crus of Burgundy, through Southern France and Spain, and further afield too when opportunity arises. Look out for both in-depth and shorter overview articles about producers, regions and issues around the world of wine.
My WINE TOURISM section aims to build a bank of useful information and reviews aimed at wine-curious tourists planning trips to Bordeaux and other wine regions.
And I invite you to join me on a personal voyage of discovery outside my zone of expertise, as I attempt to bring my Master of Wine training and analytical tasting techniques to the fascinating world of WHISKY…in search of the diverse “terroir” and human influences that shape great Whisky.
Please do not hesitate to contact me to share your thoughts and views on the site.
Bordeaux Primeurs week ended on a particularly high note for me with an unexpected invitation from Chateau Lafleur in Pomerol. Even professionals like me do not get invited to chateaux like Lafleur very often, so I thought I would share the experience… Now the way […]
A recent short trip to Germany involved a lot of trains (Bordeaux to the Palatinate and back can be done without resort to airplanes, if you are suitably motivated) and a lot of psychological support for 2nd Year MW students desperately preparing for their final […]
I recently came across a couple of articles published back in 2021 in the magazine Club Oenologique. In the first, Andrew Jefford questions the possible application of the wine term ‘terroir’ to the universe of scotch whisky, and concludes that terroir, as “the wine-community” uses […]
As I write, the Bordeaux 2022 “primeurs” campaign officially kicks into money-time with the earlyrelease of futures from Cheval Blanc and Angelus. Despite price rises of 20% and 32% respectively,commentators expect them to be oversubscribed rapidly. This is not just another example oframpant inflation, but […]
Hi, I’m Colin Gent, and the letters “MW” after my name indicate that I am one of the few (currently just over 400 in the world) to have earned the title “Master of Wine”.
For those who really want to know, this involves passing the most challenging of wine exams, demonstrating expert knowledge of the theory and practice of grape growing and wine making, the business and marketing of wine, and of course all those devilish blind tastings…36, to be precise !
This does not mean I already know everything there is to know about wine. On the contrary, because the purpose of this site is to share with you the new insights and understanding I learn every time I visit a vineyard, exchange with a producer and taste a wine.
As regards whisky, I just love the stuff, and decided I really ought to learn something about the subject.
Originally from London, I studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University, before my nascent fascination with wine dictated my choice of career. Since then, I have worked as an apprentice winemaker in California and in Provence, in retail and wholesale in the both the UK and France, in the on-trade in Paris, in wine education in Japan, and in worldwide export distribution with a specialist Bordeaux negociant that also happened to be a national US importer. I have attempted to sell Australian wine to the French, and later attempted to sell French wine to Australians. Now, I prefer to sell my expertise, working from my base in the Bordeaux region as a freelance wine business consultant. I am a lead lecturer in the wine business Masters programmes at Kedge Business School, and I teach WSET level 4 at the leading Bordeaux wine school WiSP.
