It is a common misconception that we humans only use 10% of our brains. Neurologists frequently discredit this myth, stating that we virtually use every part of it. I guess it is the pop culture we have to thank, through films such as ‘Limitless’, for perpetuating such fiction. Whilst I never really thought much of […]
We all know there are certain pairings that just work well together – gin and tonic, salt and vinegar, Ant and Dec, organic wine and cheese. But organic wine doesn’t come in just one flavour, and so what works for one type of food might not work for another. Of course, the truth of the […]
How many times have you been in this situation – you want to pick up a bottle of wine for supper but you don’t know what to get. Or you want to have a few bottles of wine in reserve to last you the weekend, but you aren’t sure what everyone likes. You have to […]
Are you worried about the calories in red wine? Or the number of calories in wine in general? The rise of the anti-sugar movement over the last few years hasn’t just impacted the food industry, it’s made its way into wine as well. With so many of us following low sugar diets or omitting it […]
A recent article by The IWSR stated that as social distancing was fast becoming the new norm, that anything or anyone who can offer ‘a sense of discovery, community and social giving will do well in today’s climate’. Let’s face it, social distancing was never going to come between people and their wine, so we’ve […]
During a recent isolation wine tasting with Elliot Awin, one of the questions that was asked was: ‘What’s the difference between filtered and unfiltered wines?’ And we thought we’d pick this thread up and run with it. Wine is a liquid in limbo – a step on the slippery slope that runs from grape juice […]
Everyone keeps saying what strange times we’re living in, and it’s true. Never in living memory has the world shut down like this. Walls are being erected, markets are tumbling, travel is curtailed, work is cancelled, schools are shut and socialising is taboo. Welcome to our new reality. Covid-19 and the wine industry But before […]
Do you know about these common (and not so common) wine additives? Winemaking, in theory, is such an easy process – you pick grapes, crush them and let the naturally present yeast work its magic. Using the sugar from the grapes, the yeast turns the resulting liquid from grape juice into wine. But life isn’t […]
You may not realise it yet, but the changing trends of what you eat are largely due, in part, to the rise of the generational powerhouse that is millennials. Millennials being those people born between 1980 and 2000. More importantly, millennials represent 42% of total expenditure on all wine purchases, and by 2026 they are […]
The legend goes that champagne was first invented in the 17th century by a French Benedictine monk by the name of… Dom Pierre Pérignon (sound familiar?). On discovering his creation, he reportedly shouted to the rest of the monks, “Come quickly! I am drinking the stars!” Now, whether this urban legend is true or not […]
If you’ve ever heard the term Méthode Traditionelle and wondered what it means, you aren’t alone. It’s not a phrase heard regularly in common parlance, instead, it’s a wine word associated with the process developed in the Champagne region of France, to produce bottle-fermented sparkling wines. While the phrase Méthode Traditionelle (or the Traditional Method) […]
Valentine’s Day is the perfect moment to show your loved one how much you care, and just when you think you’ve navigated the vast mountain that is Valentines Day planning and you’ve both sat down to dine across the romantic candlelit setting before you, one obstacle remains – The Wine List. Where do you begin? […]
As Yazz sang in the ‘80s, the only way is up, baby. And in 2020 the same is true of organic wines. Organic wines have never been more in demand and as we enter this bright new decade, the world of organic wine is only going to grow in prominence. The growth of organic wine […]
Augusta and Robert are the fifth generation of the family to farm the fields now flourishing with vines and home to Raimes English Sparkling wines. Together with land farmed on the historic Tichborne Estate, the farm stretches from the protected and ecologically diverse water meadows of the River Itchen to the grassy rolling hills of the South […]
‘Being allegedly the only two (literate) students to Graduate Healesville High School in ’97, we were always destined to work together’. Behn (the Payten) drove his first Tractor at the age of 5. Troy (the Jones) was talking by the age of 1 and hasn’t shut up since. “Naturally we fell in with the wrong […]
Your deliveries for Christmas 2019 Christmas is drawing near. To make sure we deliver the service you need, we’ve made some small changes to our delivery schedule to enable us to manage increased volumes. Last Orders will be taken on Tuesday 17th December. You can contact the team on 02037804896 until Thursday the 19th of […]
We’ve only gone and made gifting a bottle of wine a thousand times better than it already is… If you’re looking to send a sustainable gift that says ‘I’m thinking of you’, one that doesn’t include a lame bunch of flowers or anything equally generic, then our Thinking Of You Hamper is the perfect present to […]
It’s that time of year again folks, yup, it’s Organic September brought to you by Soil Association, and to get you into the mood for all things organic for the month ahead, we thought we’d give you a few reasons why organic is better than conventional. We’re big supporters of all things organic here at […]
Natural wine is here to stay. And before you ask – but isn’t all wine natural? The short answer is no. Yes, wine is a natural product, a result of fermenting grapes, but conventional wine, the stuff most often bought in supermarkets and online, isn’t natural in terms of what wine should be. Here is […]
A few weeks ago we compiled our PTC wine certification guide in which we talked about sustainable agriculture, but we didn’t mention sustainable wine. And in a recent article we looked at sustainability in the wine industry as a whole, but again, didn’t go into what specifically makes a wine sustainable. So what is it […]
In a recent article, we talked about the link between sustainable farming and natural wine, and elsewhere we’ve touched briefly on what sustainable farming is in terms of wine certification. But we wanted to talk more in-depth about sustainability in the wine industry. In particular, what is being done to ensure that the nation’s favourite […]
At the beginning of setting up PTC, we received an email from over the water from Nancy and Peter of Pull That Cork. Since then we have both been in regular contact and we thought it would be nice to present them to the UK because they have a cracking blog and Instagram account that […]
First things first – no, orange wine isn’t made from oranges. In fact, orange wine has absolutely NOTHING to do with oranges, except they share the same colour, kind of. Orange wine is a type of white wine, but one that has been made like red wine. Are you following? Orange wine is essentially white […]
There is a topic on the lips of oenophiles the world over – fermentation. In particular, wild fermentation. Wild fermentation is synonymous with natural wine. Industrial fermentation is what the rest of the wine-producing world does. Now, wine doesn’t require any additional yeasts or additives to get it to ferment and produce that wondrous liquid […]