We all get some random perks from our parents, and for me it was family friends in Mykonos. I don’t mean friends with a house in Mykonos, you understand; there...
The Greek Exception
The Colour and Clarity of Wine
Wine as a metaphor has a long history. In the 8th century BC, Homer wrote that “flashing-eyed Athena sent them a favourable wind, a strong-blowing West wind that sang over...
The Desert Island Wine
Thirassiá covers nine square kilometres and is the Siamese twin of Santorini. The two islands were separated by a catastrophic volcanic eruption in the 17th century BC. Thirassiá looks exactly...
Armenia: Making Wines Its Own Way
Armenians are a fiercely proud people. They claim many firsts and many more “bests”. When you visit Armenia, as I did just before harvest last year, everyone you meet reminds you...
Cherishing the unpredictability of wine
The jazz singer Nina Simone was a notoriously moody performer. Catch her on a good night and she was sublime; hear her play on a bad one and she was...
Before the rain: 25 wine euphemisms
They’ve barely picked a grape in Bordeaux, but the region’s euphemism generator is already up and running. “A winemaker’s vintage”, as one château owner described the 2012, is another way...
Argentina’s Malbec obsession
Is Argentina too dependent on Malbec? The question might seem absurd – few countries have managed to associate themselves so successfully with a single grape – but it’s beginning to...
A Hedonist’s Paradise
No one needs an excuse to go to Wellington, New Zealand’s most cosmopolitan, food-loving city, when it’s central heating and thermals time back in Europe. But throw in the chance...
Age is just a number, unless…you’re...
“Age is a just a number. It’s totally irrelevant unless, of course, you happen to be a bottle of wine,” said the actress Joan Collins, who looks uncannily youthful at...
