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Noble Rot Magazine

Noble Rot magazine joins the dots between wine, music and food from a fresh perspective. S*x & Drugs & Pinot Noir all day long.

Since the release of the first issue back in February 2013, Noble Rot magazine has been building a reputation as the home of exciting new wine and food writing. Noble Rot’s aim is to entertain and inspire wine and food lovers alike, with a diverse and entertaining collection of articles from interesting, talented people.

15/08/2026

There aren’t many upsides to Britain being outside the EU, but one bureaucratic quirk works in the curious wine drinker’s favour. Since 2024, UK importers have been required to display their names and addresses on wine labels - a rule long established in the United States, where importers’ details must appear on every bottle. Why does that matter? Because once you notice importers’ names, you realise they are the real tastemakers: the palates behind the wines you already enjoy. I loved writing for today’s FT Weekend about the inspirational founders of companies such as Vine Trail, Les Caves de Pyrène and Kermit Lynch Wine - and why, when choosing a bottle, it pays to follow the importer. Vine Trail Les Caves De Pyrene - natural, organic & biodynamic wines Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant Keeling Andrew

28/07/2026

Sad to hear about the death of Emidio Pepe. In the spring of 2019 I was lucky enough to spend time with him and his granddaughter Chiara at the family estate in Torano Nuovo. What struck me most wasn’t just the singularity of the wines, but the absolute certainty of his vision. At a time when Abruzzo was largely dismissed as a source of rustic everyday drinking, Pepe never doubted that Montepulciano and Trebbiano could produce wines of profound character and extraordinary longevity. He spent decades proving it, often against fashion and commercial logic, refusing shortcuts and remaining fiercely faithful to his own methods. Every great wine region needs someone prepared to ignore the consensus. Abruzzo had Emidio Pepe. The world of wine is richer because he refused to compromise, and countless growers have followed the example he set. Sending love from everyone at Rotter Towers to Chiara, Sofia and the entire Pepe family x (Photos Benjamin McMahon)

24/07/2026

Great ideas travel. Aside from minerals and bubbles, Larmandier-Bernier’s Terre de Vertus and Pepe Raventós’ Mas del Serral may not seem to have too much in common on the palate. Yet both wines have challenged the assumptions of their own regions. Pierre Larmandier helped prove that superlative farming, little or no dosage, and single vineyards could produce more compelling wines than Champagne’s grandes marques. Pepe Raventós has spent years making the case that Penedès deserves to be judged by exactly the same terroir-driven standards, rather than as a source of anonymous industrial sparkling fizz. Seeing the two friends waxing lyrical together over dinner recently at Chez Raventós in Penedès made perfect sense.

10/07/2026

So pleased to have found another bottle of Bodegas Frontonio’s 2021 El Jardín de las Iguales, a thrilling Macabeo from Valdejalón in Aragón. I couldn’t point to Valdejalón on a map, let alone tell you what it looks like, but if the place tastes anything like this, I want to go. The wine is all energy: piercing yet weightless, gliding across the palate before narrowing into something ever more precise. Left open for a couple of days, it seems only to gather itself, becoming finer and more complete.
Another summer joy was Dureuil-Janthial’s Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Champs Gain. This is the sort of generous, authoritative white Burgundy that remind you why people once spoke about Jean-François Coche’s Meursaults with such reverence. Not because they’re loud or showy, but because they seem to contain more than everyone else’s: more shape, more texture, more life. Vincent Dureuil belongs in that same rare company of uncompromising farmer-geniuses who somehow coax a little more from the same patch of earth.

09/07/2026

A bottle of 2013 Chambolle-Musigny Les Cras from Christophe Roumier was the perfect demonstration of why cool vintages have such devoted followers. There’s no excess here. Just freshness, perfume, and that lightness of touch that Burgundy achieves when it isn’t trying too hard. The village wine from the same year still needs patience, but Les Cras has settled into itself beautifully and ought to keep doing so for another 20 years or more. It shared the table with a broad-shouldered 2018 Jean-Claude Bachelet Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet over a long lunch at L’Arpège, my first visit in more than a decade. The cooking feels more alive than ever. Vegetables have long been the restaurant’s native language, but today they carry the entire conversation. Without leaning on butter, cream or cheese, the kitchen somehow finds even greater depth of flavour. There were dishes that seemed to invent a new vocabulary, familiar ingredients somehow saying things I’d never heard. At 72, Alain Passard still wanders into the dining room to greet his guests, as animated as a man who has just opened his first restaurant. The sort of enthusiasm that’s inspiring. If you find yourself in Paris with an afternoon to spare, don’t hesitate. L’Arpège is in magnificent form.

02/07/2026

One of the pleasures of travelling through France is stumbling across places whose wine lists seem to have been assembled by someone buying for themselves rather than for a spreadsheet. Auberge du Bon Laboureur, near Tours, is one of those places. Mature bottles are scattered through the list at prices that make opening them feel almost irresponsible. We couldn’t resist a pair of Clos Rougeards. The 1996 Le Clos was supple, fragrant and alive. The 2001 was firmer, darker, with an intriguing whiff of struck flint that brought old white Burgundy to mind. Neither bottle was going out of their way to impress anyone. They simply got on with the business of being delicious.

01/07/2026

Another gift of an evening at Vantre in Paris last night. Not a gift because it was cheap or comped, but because it’s always a privilege to be poured wines you’ve never tasted before that reset your benchmarks, while someone explains why they matter. First came a 1965 André Foreau, father of Philippe Foreau of Domaine du Clos Naudin, one of Vouvray’s great historic estates. 1965 was a difficult vintage, yet the wine was burnished gold and smelled extraordinary: like caramel just beginning to catch in the pan with black truffle. Rich and broad, yet with acidity still vibrant and alive after more than 60 years. Then a 1947 C. Terrand Meursault. 1947 is one of Burgundy’s legendary post-war vintages: a scorching growing season that produced concentrated, exceptionally ripe grapes. The reds are more celebrated, but this perfectly stored white was astonishing. Deeply concentrated, with layers of toasted hazelnut and dried citrus, it had that haunting, savoury complexity that only very old white Burgundy can achieve. The cooking was exceptional too, including my dish of the year so far: chorizo and octopus skewers with tomato, peach and gazpacho sauce - a combination so good it’s destined to be recreated back home in London. Viva Vantre. marco_pelletier Satria

25/06/2026

I’ve never quite made peace with mature Château Montrose. Too many bottles have betrayed me: bretty 1989s and 1990s poured without regret into the sink, and, just a year ago, a birthday jeroboam of 1996 so corked it had all the charm of damp cardboard. Such is life.
Then, last night, redemption. A generous friend quietly poured two old Montroses blind: 1928 and 1929. No introductions, no expectations.
The 1928 was graceful and fine-boned, carrying the faint autumnal patina that only great age can bring. The 1929, though, seemed to have slipped the calendar entirely. Deep, rich, composed, generous and improbably alive, it persuaded most of us we were drinking a magnificent 1982.
Every so often a bottle arrives that enlarges your idea of what wine can be. This was one of them.

18/06/2026

An epic couple of days in Madrid with one of Manchester’s finest (albeit from the wrong side of town), eating our way through some of the city’s most exciting restaurants and squabbling over Burgundy vintages. Madrid feels as vibrant and dynamic as anywhere in the world right now. There’s a palpable optimism about the place, matched by the warmth and generosity of everyone we met along the way. And then there was Desde 1911: a serious contender for meal of the year, serving fish so fresh it seemed to arrive almost flapping, accompanied by wines fit for the gods (mostly French here, admittedly).
More details, and several of David Silva’s recommendations, in our autumn issue. Suertes del Marqués Restaurante Desde 1911

17/06/2026

Fantastic Italian food in Madrid. Some great wines too, including Kei Shiogai’s Pommard Poisot, whose floral perfume and harmony were every bit as impressive as the improbably long cork that sealed it.

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