Distilled from Pinot Noir grapes grown on the Ashling Park estate in West Ashling with invaluable help from the vineyard dog Rocco, an elegant English Pointer. Set off with soft fruit and pear, and overtaken by whispers of juniper and citrus which are followed by subtle hints of pepper and spice before arriving triumphantly at a tart apple finish.
For the nose, forward notes of candied lemon, delicate undertones of soft apples and pears and softer notes of honey and floral chamomile.
Amy McNichol visits Kai Matsumoto in Japan; luxury unlike any she’s ever seen before If you’re heading to Japan, you’ve probably scrawled ‘Tokyo’ and ‘Mount Fuji’ in to your itinerary and circled them excitedly with felt tip pen. You might not have done the same with Matsumoto, a lesser known city in the Nagano Prefecture, surrounded by gob-smackingly beautiful mountains. The mountains that you drive over (and indeed beneath courtesy of some epic scale tunnels) are tummy-turningly high and belly-flippingly bendy at points. I visited in autumn and despite the dazzling sunshine, the leaves on the towering trees were turning that rich red colour you presume is enhanced in the guidebooks….
