The Dark Side of the Bottle – A Guide to Wine’s Rogue Gallery

Detecting wine faults

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By Michael Pope July 23, 2025
Spain’s major cities Barcelona, Valencia, Madrid, Seville, and Santiago de Compostela are known for their vibrant culture, iconic landmarks, and incredible food scenes.
By Michael Pope July 16, 2025
Stop Tasting Wine Like an Accountant: Taste the Year, Not the Wheel
By Michael Pope June 30, 2025
A modern guide to Spain’s oldest, perhaps the world’s most complicated, but most seductive wine.
Wine bar in Madrid
By Michael Pope May 28, 2025
Sip your way through Madrid with five of the city’s best wine bars. Rotating lists, great ambience, and pours that keep locals and travellers coming back.
Tempranillo blanco vine in rioja
By Michael Pope May 21, 2025
In 1988, on a slope outside Murillo de Río Leza in Rioja, something strange appeared among the vines. 
By Michael Pope May 13, 2025
Or Sobremadre, as it's known in Spain.
By Michael Pope March 28, 2025
Spain, before phylloxera, was a wild, tangled mess of vines with over 700 grape varieties stretching from the Basque hills to the sun-baked plains of Andalusia. It was a country of forgotten valleys and ancient terraces, of vines planted in haphazard mosaics, each plot a time capsule of local viticultural history. Winemakers worked with what the land gave them - Maturana, Trepat, Moristel, Rufete, etc. - grapes that spoke in the dialect of their terroir. Then came the great catastrophe.
By Michael Pope March 11, 2025
What happens in the vineyard during the winter months?
By Michael Pope February 10, 2025
An ode to wine tourism during the winter months. It's colder and the vines are bare, but there are advantages.
Tapas in a wine bar in Rioja
By Michael Pope February 2, 2025
If you can't travel to Spain to enjoy wine and tapas, read our post on creating some great wine and tapas pairings at home.