Farr Vintners is pleased to announce the acquisition of the business and, in particular, the management of customer portfolios of Jackson Fine Wines following the retirement of CEO Kit Jackson.
Last week a few of us had the chance to visit a world class vineyard. The only unusual thing about our trip was that it wasn't to a Chateau in Bordeaux or a Domaine in Burgundy but to a vineyard in West Sussex about an hour's drive from London!
In 1993 I was living and working in Beaune and after a morning showing some American guests around the vineyards of the Cote d'Or they presented me with a bottle of Ridge Geyserville 1990 as a gift. I had never heard of the winery or tasted any of their wines and seeing "Zinfandel" on the back label didn't fill me with great optimism! However the bottle was duly opened with friends the following weekend and it was without question the best non-French red wine I'd ever tasted at the time - a complete revelation. Ridge Vineyards' wines have remained among my favourites ever since and none more so than their flagship Cabernet Sauvignon - Monte Bello.
There's nothing better than discovering a wine of a given appellation, class or reputation which exceeds expectation.