Just in

Articles by Algy Belville

Avatar photo
About Algy Belville

We are delighted to add Algy Belville to our team of writers. Algy was a director of family film Bodgers and Belville , Wine Merchants of St James. He will be contributing a column on wine. Algy lives in Amberley Sussex , is captain of his Crown Bowls team and a local Councillor. More Posts

Second day

This proved to be a full-on day of three wine tastings, a visit to Lourmarin, and a more relaxed dinner back at base camp. The Luberon, the area we visited, is technically not in Provence but in Vaucluse, a different department across the Durance Riveer. Loumarin is one of those picture-postcard [...]

September 7, 2019 // 0 Comments

Cheese and wine pairing

It was back to school for me too last night as I attended a wine course locally entitled cheese and wine pairing. One of the weaknesses of a wine tasting is often no food is ever served – other than a wafer biscuit – but wine is almost invariably the accompaniment of food. We tend to be [...]

January 23, 2019 // 0 Comments

Wine tasting/champagne and sparkling wines

Several Rusters are involved in courses; Alice (Mansfield) goes to an art course on British modernism, Bob (Tickler) and Ivan ( Conway) on languages,  all at their local learning centre and I attend irregularly a wine course. There is a common denominator as in every one there is a a know-all [...]

October 27, 2018 // 0 Comments

Spanish wine and Tapas

Last Tuesday I attended a wine tasting devoted to Spanish wine and tapas. Spanish wine is not as fashionable as French and they do not produce the volume of Italy, the biggest producer of wine in the world (Spain is third after France). As wine region Spain is well-positioned to the south of that [...]

September 7, 2018 // 0 Comments

Experiencing Rose and a stimulating conversation

In the week I went to a wine tasting on non Provençal roses. Roses account for 11% of all wine sold in the UK. It’s an interesting case study on how wine tastes change. In the 70s and 80s it was unfashionable with consumers and unrated by the wine critics. Its introduction to the UK came [...]

July 21, 2018 // 0 Comments

The wines of Trentino

Yesterday I attended a tasting of Trentino wines, the wine tutor having recently returned from a trip there. It’s not a region I know well and that I know it at all it is for political reasons as there is an independence movement there harking back to its Austrian governance. It is situated north [...]

July 6, 2018 // 0 Comments

Italian Wine and Food Evening

Yesterday I attended an Italian wine and food evening. Italy is the biggest producer of wine in the world with more grape varieties (400-500) than any other country – France for example has only 150. Because Italy was only united in 1861, regional identities are still strong and this is [...]

May 23, 2018 // 0 Comments

Prosecco

Prosecco has so swamped the UK bubbles market that it now outsells champagne and we are its largest  importer. It’s not as if the surge was caused by an inspired advertising campaign as happened with Cinzano and Campari  in  the seventies. It became popular by selling cheap to supermarkets and [...]

May 11, 2018 // 0 Comments

Wine tasting evening

The wine industry in all its forms is better than most in offering opportunities to women. There are several notable female wine critics – Jane MacQuitty and Jancis Robinson and half  of the writers on Decanter magazine. Last Thursday evening I attended  a tasting of South African and [...]

February 24, 2018 // 0 Comments

Tasting Barolo and Barbaresco

Last night I attended a tasting of Barolo and Barbaresco, two of Italy’s premium and most expensive red wines cultivated in South Piedmont with the Nebbiolo grape. We tasted 7 of the wines and the cheapest was £24. Be careful in particular if you see cheap Barolo in the wine section of a [...]

February 2, 2018 // 0 Comments

1 2 3 4 5

Copyright © 2026 The National Rust | Design by Premonition