• Wine bacteria. More important than yeast?

    March 22, 2019 Author: Harriet Tindal
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    Last week I nipped over to London for the day to attend the latest in a series of talks from Yeast developers Lallemand at the Institute of Masters of Wine. The on-going discussions over Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) in winemaking and general misunderstanding surrounding some winemaking practices drives me to learn more whenever I can. Bacteria in wine, there’s only one beneficial form and that’s oenococcus oeni right? Wrong. For those of you out there looking for some geek induced information; there are four main genera associated with winemaking, these are: lactobacillus leuconstoc oenococcus pediococcus Oenococcus oeni gets nearly all of

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  • Harriet Tindal MW – At last!

    March 20, 2019 Author: Harriet Tindal
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    I’ve always been open about my ambitions to become a Master of Wine (MW). Five years ago these were rubbished over the chink of glasses and gentle banter swooshing round a crowded tasting room of MWs and students. “Three children….Ha, ha, ha, ha,”. The laughter clearly defining the disbelief of my fellow delegate at the IMW symposium in Florence. This person dismissed success on my mission like one would turn away a corked wine. Perhaps it was my dogged determination not to let family and friends down after such a long slog. Whatever it was, Friday 22nd February 2019 is

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  • Wine education, a tool in your tasting.

    August 30, 2018 Author: Harriet Tindal
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    Our relationship with wine is a journey. A long windy road that seems to narrow as we progress, excluding simpler less interesting wines, seeking more serious scintillating sustenance.

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  • Blue Stone Vineyard, Wicklow? Soils and wine.

    August 14, 2018 Author: Harriet Tindal
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    It is impossible to establish any correlation between quality of wine and the soil content of any nutritive element… if there were such a correlation it would be easy, with the appropriate chemical additives, to produce great wine anywhere.” Dr Gerard Seguin.

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  • Sustainable Vineyards: Beneficial what… wasps!

    August 9, 2018 Author: Harriet Tindal
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    What’s black and yellow, stings and transports yeast around the vineyard? A wasp. Sustainable, natural and part of our fragile ecosystem, but also an important part of pest management in vineyards.   What do they do? Mission A: Transporter; an effective, mobile and fast courier service for yeast. The wasp distributes valuable yeast populations around the vines, even over-wintering the strains in the digestive tracts of future generations. Mission B: Seek and destroy the eggs of moths: Tiny wasps (Trichogramma) lay their eggs amidst those of predators such as the light brown apple moth. Their larvae gorge on the future

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  • Wine yeasts, small but perfectly formed.

    August 7, 2018 Author: Harriet Tindal
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    Meet Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, an unassuming single celled fungi with the capability to change the sugar and water in grapes into wine! I can see you’re warming to this little microscopic cell already. So Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, SC for short has 16 other genera within the yeast species that can also turn water into wine. They share the same propensity for complicated names, but none share the stamina and success of SC. SC is always the last to leave the party, fermenting till dawn, enjoying the added pressure of increasing alcohol, lapping up the extra heat, while others such as Hanseniaspora, Pichia

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  • Climate change, global warming and Vintage 2014

    September 25, 2014 Author: Harriet Tindal
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    A look at this years progress in vineyards around Europe with thoughts on the erratic weather conditions and pests inflicted on the classic areas by Climate Change.

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  • Why not let Fernando de Castilla introduce you to the world of Sherry?

    July 3, 2014 Author: Harriet Tindal
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    An insight into the production of the various sherry styles.

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  • Why is wine always the ‘fall-guy’?

    May 26, 2014 Author: Harriet Tindal
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    We love food, we love wine, as a country we pride ourselves in relishing home grown produce, artisan products and high quality food. Why then, do we have such poor examples of wine at the lower end of most restaurant lists? The prices of wines globally remains relatively static, it’s external factors such as increasing duty rates, rents and to some extent reliance on a history of fat margins and high prices which give the consumer such a poor deal when they unwittingly order a glass of house wine. What do you expect to pay for your wine when dining

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  • A day (or 3) in the life of an ‘accredited’ Burgundy Tutor!

    April 10, 2014 Author: Harriet Tindal
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    The amazing days spent refreshing my knowledge of Burgundy.

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  • Back to the drawing board. The Master of Wine waits for no-one!

    October 23, 2013 Author: Harriet Tindal
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    Harriet’s return to the hamster wheel of MW studies.

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  • Champagne and Alsace: Tindal Team building trip 2011

    April 4, 2011 Author: Harriet Tindal
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    A team building trip to Champagne and Alsace for some of the lads at Tindal Wine Merchants.

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