The Wine Merchant's Blog

Regardless of one’s position on the influence of (or lack thereof) anthropogenic climate change on global temperature and sea level rise and associated weather patterns, it is undeniable – according to a March 2018 report by the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council (EASAC) – that weather has become more volatile and more extreme in the […]

Furmint February: It’s time to celebrate Hungary’s versatile flagship white grape! “Wine of Kings, King of Wines” was how the wines of Hungary’s were described, if you can believe it, by a Frenchman! And not just any Frenchman might we add, but ‘The Sun King’ himself, Louis the XIV of France.   That’s quite a […]

Jane Boyce, MW gives us her account of the JN Wine trip to Burgundy and Rhone.  She tells us about the producers visited on Thursday.   Early morning Carpentras, blue skies, crisp frost but none of the snow that greeted us in Beaune. A breakfast of café au lait and croissants in our favourite Patisserie, […]

Richard from JN Wine has put together his account of day three in Burgundy & Rhône.  Read about snow in France, the fantastic producers and most importantly; the wine.   Tuesday evening 22nd January – 11pm. …….sure, all this snow will be gone by morning.     Wednesday morning 23rd January – 7am. The pretty […]

Tuesday by Darren Rafferty This is a series of blog posts about the wine producers that we visited and the wines we tasted in Burgundy & Rhone in January 2019. After a quick croissant and coffee for breakfast in a lovely boutique hotel in the centre of Beaune the team set of on a 15km journey […]

Our next and final appointment on Monday dictated that we continue our voyage of discovery north, this time through the rolling hills of mist and vine, towards the magical Mâconnais. The JN team and I had our course set for Maison Joseph Burrier – Château de Beauregard, situated in the Pouilly Fuissé Appellation. The Burrier […]

A few lucky members of the JN Wine team (myself included) recently returned from a whistle-stop tour of Burgundy and the Rhône Valley, it was all in the name of work and science, you understand.  The purpose of our trip was to catch up with our current crop of producers, taste their upcoming vintages but […]

We hear loads of different questions and wine myths from our customers on a day to day basis. We are often asked for sulphur free wine because someone’s friend told them it wouldn’t give them a hangover, or “is there supposed to be sediment in my wine?” So, we decided to cover the major ones […]

Finca Sophenia, the producer of everyone’s favourite Altosur Malbec have been producing premium estate wines for over 20 years, many of which are sold here at JN Wine. While most of us are familiar with what’s inside the bottle, we decided it was time to introduce you to the people who create and care for […]

Christmas and New Year are now but a distant memory and it really is back to porridge.  As 2019 sets in here are our Staff Picks to get you through those long evenings.  We recommend that these are paired with some delicious food and good friends.   Aidan Pask Small Batch Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 A […]

Herdade do Portocarro are a relatively recent addition to the JN portfolio but in the short time since their arrival they have become firm favourites of customers and staff alike looking both for quality, structured wines at an affordable price as well as some of the finest and most complex examples that Portugal has to […]

This strictly limited-edition Cask Finish gin has been distilled for JN Wine by the Rademon Estate.  We sourced and shipped the casks from premium Bordeaux property, Chateau Cantemerle.  Then the magic started. Quietly resting in Chateau Cantemerle casks for just three months, the flavours and characters from the oak barrel infused into the gin giving […]