The times we live in being what they are, I need to start with a few disclaimers. No, I don’t doubt at all that there is a dark side to...
Why I Like Wine People
Tasting Terroir
My scientific credentials are embarrassing. I struggled to get a C grade in Physics with Chemistry O Level in my teens. By dint of rote learning and conversations with winemakers,...
Making A Shift
Haut-Brion holds a hallowed place not only in today’s luxury wine market and wine history but also for the people who study terroir identity, authenticity, and, of course, branding. Its...
Collecting Flavour
Every trade has its sartorial call-signs. The wine trade plays host to the fraternity-of-the-red-trouser, its membership made up of legs that appear to have filled, loafer-to-belt, with decades of luncheon...
Future Forward
What we’ll be drinking in 2029 In my grandmother’s kitchen there’s a cover of The Sunday Times Magazine stuck on one of the cupboards. It’s the final edition from 2009,...
Back to the future
Fine wines are timeless – that elusive combination of elegance, complexity and gravitas, plus ageing potential in spades. Their prices unfortunately are not. Top rank Bordeaux, Burgundy or mature Barolos...
Drink Promiscuously
It bothers me that wine drinkers frequently choose wine based on colour, or indeed dismiss those of the “wrong” colour. I have encountered this discrimination most overtly in the rosé...
A Fruity Number
I know we’ve just come through the silly season, when tales of killer chipmunks and dolphin sign language deputise for what’s normally classed as news in the British media, but...
Buon Viaggio
People can be so virtuous when it comes to the appropriate amount of luggage to pack for an overseas trip. I was packing for a six-week wine journey through Italy...
