Old wines are like cocaine: I’ve only ever enjoyed someone else’s. I’ve never bought my own. Noblesse oblige and all that. It’s not that I’m not grateful – or appreciative....
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Pick and Mix
A couple of things have struck me recently. One was Richard Geoffroy, ex-chef de cave of Dom Pérignon, saying casually that he blends everything, even his breakfast orange juice. The...
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The Noise And The Reality
So much coverage of Brexit has been noise about symbols. Brexiteers obsessed over a return to “blue” British passports and an end to the “humiliation” of Burgundy-coloured ones. In fact,...
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Our Favourite Drug
“People like to masturbate.” As first sentences go, this one certainly snares your attention. It’s not the only remarkable thing about Edward Slingerland’s new book Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced...
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Wine: Craft Item or Commodity?
The festive season always reminds me what an absolute hold wine has over the public imagination. It is the time of the year when everything wants to be fermented grape...
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The Best Wine Books of 2021
How do you write a wine book that appeals to the general reader? All the stuff about schist, clones and yields that make up a good part of wine writing...
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Carry That Weight
A petition addressed to ‘Wine Trade Associations’ written by Aleesha Hansel, and co-signed by Jancis Robinson, is asking for three steps to be taken in what, Hansel acknowledges herself, is...
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When?
The ‘what’ can take a thought or two, the how, where, with whom, barely a moment. But the ‘when’, ah the ‘when’, there’s the rub. I don’t have a favorite...
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Dreamland
The closer we get to the Turner Contemporary, the smaller it seems. From across the bay its modernist, factory-like form stands like a monument to industriousness next to Margate’s grungy-chic...
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Forks In The Road
For Ulysses, Dorothy Gale and Neil Armstrong there was no place like home. Dorothy left the Emerald City yearning for Kansas. After walking on the moon, Neil Armstrong wanted nothing more...
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