Why are people drinking less, when wine is better than ever? I have an idea. Wine is too good. The wine trade is too nice. What we need, to have...
Nasty Not Nice
A Level Playing Field
What do we mean by the word “Burgundian”? Used indiscriminately to describe a region that is famously, almost defiantly complex, it’s a term that covers so many appellations, terroirs and...
Affordable Luxury
Would I pay £25 for a glass of Veuve Clicquot? Not if I could help it, no. Now that I think about it, I wouldn’t drink Veuve Clicquot if it...
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...
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...
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...
