Koshu, Japan’s signature wine grape variety, has been increasingly on the radar of the UK’s on and off trade in the past decade. These intensely aromatic wines have been improving year on year and would now sit proudly on many a wine list up and down the country. In a recent masterclass, The Buyer’s Mike Turner discovered the exciting range of Koshu now coming out of Japan and what the future holds for this iconic grape variety.
Provence continues to be a go-to region for wine drinkers across the globe searching out premium rosé. Rosé dominates wine production in the southern French region, with around 90% of the wine produced as the iconic salmon-pink wine. But what is it about Provence rosé that seems to have captured, and continues to capture, the hearts of so many wine drinkers in the world? We asked The Buyer’s Mike Turner, a restaurateur and retailer himself, to taste through a selection of the 2021 vintage and give us his thoughts on the region.
The wine regions across Bordeaux are increasingly keen to show off their diversity of styles and modernised approaches to re-engage with both the on-trade and off-trade across their key markets. Fresh from his recent appointment as one of Bordeaux Wines UK ambassadors, The Buyer’s own Mike Turner reports on his recent Les Vins du Médoc masterclass, and why he thinks these famous wine regions are much more than just a name on a label…
Armit Wine has one of the most enviable portfolio lists in the business. MD Brett Fleming celebrates three years in charge this November, and its Autumn Portfolio Tasting gave the team (and those producers that could get away from harvest duties) the chance to showcase their wares to an expectant client base of private clients, restaurants, and well-heeled independents. We sent Mike Turner along to get a taste of what Armit has to offer.
Alto Adige is one of Italy’s most unique wine regions and a real ‘must visit’ for any adventurous wine lover. We sent Mike Turner to discover just why that’s the case, to visit the region and, in particular, the hugely influential cooperative Cantina Tramin. It is a trip that took him, quite literally, into the heart of the mountains where Tramin’s 100-point scoring Epokale Gewürztraminer is stored 6km under rock for six years.
With fingers in so many pies – wine consultant, importer, online retailer, writer and restaurateur – Mike Turner can always be relied on to come up with some fascinating choices of wine to put on your radar. Looking back at the wines that moved him over the past 12 months, he is recommending you catch up with them over the next 12 months – not so much a Best Of 2021 as a What’s Hot In 2022. Take it away Mike.
Biodynamic farming is being damned by a group of Italian scientists who have started a petition, claiming that the practice is witchcraft. A leading senator backing the scientists has declared (somewhat unbelievably) “we risk giving legal recognition to flat-earthers who preach magic and witchcraft.” The aim of this petition, which has surpassed a staggering 31,000 signatories, is to overturn a bill which would put biodynamic farming on the same standing as organic farming, thereby allowing biodynamic practitioners to receive state aid. So puzzled about this state of affairs was wine consultant and restaurateur Mike Turner, that he decided to delve into the matter and ask some fundamental questions about all types of farming, talk to South African winemaker of the year Johan Reyneke, and generally put some positive PR out there for biodynamic farming.
Canned wine is a genuinely exciting new format and the predictions are that this will be the year when finally there is a real breakthrough. It raises a number of issues against bottles, however: sustainability, parity of quality, image, role in restaurants and format size in general. So what has Mike Turner learned from 12 months of selling canned wines to consumers?
The on-trade is in a cash flow crisis right now and banks and insurance companies need to alleviate the pressure by turning on the taps immediately, writes restaurateur Mike Turner. A co-owner of French restaurant La Ferme in London’s Primrose Hill, Turner shows how the devil is in the detail of recent financial promises – both by the government and by financial institutions. Although he is optimistic that his business is eligible for financial aid, there is plenty of room for pessimism – the rateable value ceiling of £51k, banks looking for personal guarantees, and insurance companies trying to default on technicalities, is detracting from where our real focus should be, which is on helping people cope with the virus.
As recently as the year 2000, a seminal wine was produced that marked a dramatic shift in one of the most famous wine regions of the world. Istvan Szepsy’s now legendary Úrágya dry furmint is widely regarded as the first time a winemaker from Tokaj took the idea of producing a dry white wine seriously, and came up with a special result. 20 years on, Mike Turner attended the launch of Furmint February, a trade initiative to promote these dry Furmints from across Hungary, to hear all about the rapid shift in thinking and production.
