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Paul Brannigan - Latest News [Page 1]
Frontline Wine: A Warning to Restaurant Goers
Wednesday, 22 September 2010, 3:13 pm | Paul Brannigan
We’ve seen a glut of new world-y, samey-samey wines from Old World wine producing countries being offered to us recently. You taste these things and don’t know what country they’ve come from. Regional/national characteristics have been lost to ... More >>
Frontline Wine: A glass a day?
Tuesday, 10 August 2010, 12:34 pm | Paul Brannigan
Unhappy people abuse anti-depressants prescribed by dismissive doctors at the behest of large pharmaceutical companies and pills are a recommended first choice fix by busy people for every ailment. These days’ people consider themselves lucky if ... More >>
Frontline Wine: Sherry, A Neglected Delight
Wednesday, 28 July 2010, 12:04 pm | Paul Brannigan
Your granny keeps a half empty, sticky bottle of the stuff at the back of her cupboard. The last time you drank it aged seventeen, you puked your ring so violently that your stomach popped out of your mouth like an airbag. The only time you ever want ... More >>
Frontline Wine: On The Law Commission's Report
Wednesday, 9 June 2010, 12:54 pm | Paul Brannigan
In the interests of the country the Law Commission has recently recommended that excise duty on alcohol should be increased whilst the purchasing of alcohol from off licensed premises should be raised from eighteen to twenty years of age. More >>
Frontline Wine: Tits and Teeth in the Trenches
Monday, 19 April 2010, 3:51 pm | Paul Brannigan
It’s a hoot to see the human side of large companies in the wine and spirits trade. For most of the year, us gnats on the frontline only see the façade they want us to see: a freshly white washed wall of professionalism administered by robotic sales ... More >>
Frontline Wine: The biggest fraud in wine today
Thursday, 14 January 2010, 1:22 pm | Paul Brannigan
The biggest fraud in wine today...besides most of the New Zealand wine awards ( just kidding ; save your unlimited flying ninja-gold-stars for another time) is the practice of ‘buying sur latte’ in Champagne. Sur latte transactions are the wholesale ... More >>
Frontline wine: What is a characterful wine?
Monday, 16 November 2009, 11:21 am | Paul Brannigan
Specific regional wine tastings are a wine professional's 'American Idol early rounds'. The bulk of the evaluation is unmemorable. Some wines sing. Other wines are the equivalent of a shuffling, toothless tone-death witch desperately seeking attention (or perhaps ... More >>
Frontline Wine: Certified Organic Wines
Wednesday, 30 September 2009, 12:17 pm | Paul Brannigan
Certified organic wines just aren't cutting it on the market. I have yet to taste a New Zealand wine that adheres to the strict organic regulations through which organic status is gained as anything particularly interesting. Organic oranges may be juicer ... More >>
Frontline Wine: World-beating Cocktails
Monday, 14 September 2009, 3:30 pm | Paul Brannigan
I’d imagine it to be an incredibly complex task requiring months of preparation. A heady blend of exotic fruits, spirits distilled by nomads living in glacial outposts in Iceland; botanicals, stolen in the night from Kew gardens… More >>
Frontline Wine: Gorilla Warfare
Monday, 15 October 2007, 10:30 am | Paul Brannigan
As we move into an age where international communication is creating new trading opportunities in the New Zealand wine industry, there has been a marked increase in the way wineries operate and sell to the general public. More >>
Frontline Wine. Supermarket Swipe
Sunday, 16 September 2007, 2:12 pm | Paul Brannigan
I find it admirable that many independent wine retailers in New Zealand have taken a stand against supermarkets and don’t stock the wines they sell. Many great wine brands, their image meticulously built up over a number of years by the hard working ... More >>
Frontline Wine: Wine Writer Or Pocket Liner?
Sunday, 26 August 2007, 3:18 pm | Paul Brannigan
It is important for me to read the opinions and comments of the other wine writers in this country to fathom opinion. But on too many occasions recently I’ve wanted to stuff my muffin into the keyboard and hurl my coffee against the nearest wall ... More >>
Frontline Wine:The Fruit Bomb Is Ticking
Tuesday, 17 July 2007, 9:54 pm | Paul Brannigan
The first time I tasted a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, I could barely believe that a grape variety could pack such an intense array of tropical fruits into each mouthful. I remember my tongue, classically trained on the great Sauvignons of the Loire Valley, ... More >>
Frontline Wine: Pricey Pinot Found Very Weighty
Sunday, 8 July 2007, 12:44 am | Paul Brannigan
I got to taste the Peregrine Pinnacle Pinot Noir 2005 ( $150 cellar door )at the weekend. Yes…It can be a dirty job at times. In a wine producing region where the Pinot Noir vines are still in their infancy in comparison to other parts of New Zealand, ... More >>
