HOUSE NOTES
Notes from 105 Piccadilly, Mayfair.
Our editorial wing and candle-lit corner of conversation. This is where the cork comes out and the stories begin to breathe: dispatches from dinner tables, conversations on travel, taste, art, and the odd beautiful mistake along the way. Think of it as the after-hours lounge of House of Decant — and everyone is welcome.
226 articles
- Insights
Zinfandel: America's Most Misunderstood Grape
Zinfandel was never America's grape because America couldn't decide what Zinfandel was. Powerful? Elegant? Fruity? Structured? The answer is yes. All of it. Simultaneously. Which is why we've been arguing about it for centuries.
- Insights
Moscato: The Wine Snobs Hate (and Everyone Else Loves)
- Advice
France in a Glass: A Cheat Sheet to the Classic Wine Regions
A beginner-friendly cheat sheet to France's classic wine regions, why the French label by place not grape, and how to fake fluency fast.
- Insights
Chenin Blanc: The Loire Valley's Quietly Extraordinary Secret
- Insights
Nebbiolo: The Grape That Demands Your Patience — and Rewards It
Nebbiolo is the difficult parent, the genius with social anxiety, the wine that will teach you more about yourself than it will about itself. It's worth every moment you spend learning to understand it.
- Advice
Argentine Wine: Malbec and a Whole Lot More
A guide to Argentine wine: Malbec's rise from Cahors to Mendoza, why altitude is the secret, and the Cabernet, Chardonnay and Torrontés worth trying.
- Advice
Piedmont Wine: Truffle Country's Finest Pours
A guide to Piedmont wine: Nebbiolo's kingdom of Barolo and Barbaresco, the everyday joys of Barbera and Dolcetto, and its underrated whites.
- Advice
Priorat Wine: Spain's Boldest, Most Dramatic Red
A guide to Priorat: the llicorella slate soils, old-vine Garnacha and Cariñena, and the 1990s revival that made it one of Spain's greatest reds.
- Insights
Gamay: The Wine That Refuses to Take Itself Seriously
Gamay is the funny friend in the wine world—it doesn't take itself seriously, doesn't demand reverence, doesn't care if you're a collector or a casual drinker. It's just insanely, effortlessly delicious.
- Advice
Ribera del Duero: Spain's Other Great Red Wine Region
A guide to Ribera del Duero: the same Tempranillo grape as Rioja, but bolder, thanks to brutal altitude and a run of cult-status estates.
- Insights
Tempranillo: Spain's Unsung Backbone
Tempranillo doesn't want to be fashionable. It wants to be part of your life. Which, it turns out, is far more interesting.
- Advice
Napa Valley Wine: California's Liquid Gold
A guide to Napa Valley wine: why Cabernet is king, the 1976 tasting that changed everything, and how valley floor differs from mountain top.