Where does Chile stand on the premium end of the market? Is there much call for these wines on top restaurant lists? Roger Jones attends the Sommelier Chile Challenge, organised by Wines of Chile, which sought to answer these questions – serving 51 wines from Chile blind alongside five ringers from other countries just to give the wines from Chile a benchmark in quality.
Roger Jones is a man of many hats and a man used to spinning a large number of plates at any one time. A world class chef, a restaurateur with the AA’s Best English Wine List for 2018, an ambassador to the CSWWC, a Decanter panel judge, host to the Tri Nations Wine Championships and a contributing editor to The Buyer. No he’s not been knighted yet but in our books he will always be Sir Roger Jones, at least that’s the name he always gives when checking into First Class lounges.
Roving contributing editor Roger Jones has an audience with Keith and Clare Mugford from Moss Wood, focussing not only on their aged fine wines from Margaret River in Western Australia but also discussing the Semillon Gris mutation of Semillon and whether it affects the wines. With Moss Wood celebrating its 50th anniversary next year and Keith also marking 40 years as head winemaker, this was a perfect occasion to consider the enduring appeal of the wines and how they age.
Bollinger La Grande Année 2007, Bollinger R.D 2004 the one-off cuvée ‘2003 by Bollinger’ and more are taste-tested with HIDE’s cuisine by Buyer contributing editor Roger Jones, as chef de caves Gilles Descôtes waxes lyrical about what the 2018 vintage has in store. But not all the food pairings got two thumbs up by Jones.
It’s a well known saying in business – and in life – that you can only really appreciate success when you have been through disappointments and knock backs along the way. For Roger and Sue Jones, and their award winning team at The Harrow at Little Bedwyn, this week has been one of those that certainly fit into the knock back category. For after 12 years they lost their Michelin star. After the initial disappointment, Roger Jones reflects on what might have been the reasons for Michelin’s decision, and, in this frank, honest and brave account, looks ahead for what could be in store for him, his wife and business partner, Sue, and their team as they looks to expand and grow into new areas, take on different projects and prove there is very much life without a Michelin star.
After a week in South Africa as a guest of Cape Wine 2018, Michelin star chef and roving editor for The Buyer, Roger Jones, sums up the week of events. Having been heavily involved in selling and promoting South African wines for a number of years, Jones still firmly believes that the increase in customer awareness, quality sourced, and consumer expectation is at an all-time high for South African wines and growing faster than many in the on-trade can keep up with.
Today, on his way to Heathrow to catch a flight to Cape Wine, our Michelin Star Editor pops into the wonderful Sussex Cellars at Berry Bros in St James’s to get his tastebuds in training by tasting through 47 of the Cape Winemakers Guild Auction wines that are ready for sale on Saturday, September 29. In this special sneak preview, Roger is putting his money on the whites this year.
Earlier this summer our roving contributing editor and Michelin star chef, Roger Jones, found time to catch up with two people that, for him, make the best Australian Riesling. In fact, Roger argues that it is because of them that he first started falling in love with Australian wine per se; Louisa Rose is the chief winemaker at Yalumba which includes the Pewsey Vale Vineyards while Jeff Grosset owns and runs Grosset Wines.
Our Michelin star chef, and contributing editor, Roger Jones, gets all the short straws – imagine how long his face got when we packed him off to the London leg of Billecart-Salmon’s global gastronomic celebrations of their 200-year anniversary, presided over by two of the world’s top chefs, Alain Passard and Anne-Sophie Pic.
China’s Changyu-Moser is famed for its Disneyland-style château that cost £70m to build back in 2012, but its wines have come along in leaps and bounds as our roving Michelin Star chef Roger Jones discovered at a Masterclass held by the winery’s Lenz M Moser and Frank Kämmer MS. The wines where Moser has started to have more control over are clearly getting better, so much that they were tasted comparatively against some of the world’s top wines.
