Wine

Read expert wine writing and reviews from Master of Wine Bob Campbell. Widely regarded as New Zealand’s 
 top wine expert, Bob  is one of only 394 people worldwide to earn the Master of Wine qualification. Awarded an ONZM in 2019 for services to the wine industry, Bob is a sought-after judge at national and international wine awards. 
Heard it through the grapevine - putting the cork in famous wine myths
The Life Free

Heard it through the grapevine - putting the cork in famous wine myths

There are two sorts of wine drinkers: the insecure and the very insecure. Because most of us don’t want to make a fool of ourselves, we are less likely to question wine wisdom when it is delivered by someone we regard as an expert. If I were to dream up a piece of wine wisdom and...

Bob Campbell MW 23 Oct 2020
More tea vicar? Taste testing the wine industry's New Age preservative
The Life Free

More tea vicar? Taste testing the wine industry's New Age preservative

Anyone who has been drinking wine for 30 years or more will remember when organic wine was a curiosity made by hippies on 10-acre lifestyle blocks that you suspected might also conceal modest cannabis plantations. Now it is de rigueur for wine companies to have at least one organ...

Bob Campbell MW 16 Oct 2020
Tasting notes on the winners of the New World Wine Awards
The Life Free

Tasting notes on the winners of the New World Wine Awards

I follow New World’s annual wine awards with great interest. Entries are limited to wines with a retail price of $25 or less. Popular varieties must have at least 4,000 bottles for sale, and for “emerging” varieties the minimum entry requirement is 1,800 bottles. It’s a simple pr...

Bob Campbell MW 09 Oct 2020
Big deal - why you should invest in magnum wine bottles
The Life Free

Big deal - why you should invest in magnum wine bottles

I find something particularly sexy about big bottles, or “large formats” as they are known in the wine trade. Perhaps I should seek counselling. Big bottles are difficult to store and clumsy to serve but beautiful to behold as they slumber away in my modest wine cellar. To dispel...

Bob Campbell MW 02 Oct 2020