For the last two decades, I have been anchored in Lebanon. I have also been an anchor for people who have left: the friend you could moor your boat to,...
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In Search Of Familiarity
It was a comment by a South African producer a few weeks ago that set me thinking. He said, in effect, that South Africa isn’t making enough Chardonnay. It should,...
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Don’t Over Think It, Just Drink It
My mum is a gardener and sometimes works with a friend and fellow gardener called Don who takes care of hard landscaping, hedges and tree felling. As you’d expect given...
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A Solar System Or A Galaxy?
Noble Rot Magazine recently ran a blind ‘Champagne vs English Sparkling Wine’tasting in which Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label placed higher than a number of fêted smaller producers(the first iteration of...
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Bubblegum In Your Coffee?
When you’re six years old, “less” is never “more”. It’s a glorious time of learning and discovery. But at some point, most of us become aware that it’s cooler (or at...
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Can Wine Survive On The High Street?
The numbers are terrifying. With the imminent closure of 124 Debenhams stores and the loss of 12,000 jobs, the high street has arguably suffered its highest profile casualty since Woolworths...
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The Best Booze Books of 2020
“The juice of the carrot, The smile of the parrot, A little drop of claret, Anything that rocks.” Like Ian Dury, I have found a little drop of claret a...
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Wine In The Time Of Bushfires
Covid-19 may have monopolised the world’s attention since March 2020, but the previous six months in Australia were dominated by the most traumatic bushfire season in memory . The so-called...
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Making Fun Of Foreign Accents
I know some of you are here for the dirty bits, so I’ll get those out of the way first, so the rest of us can concentrate on the review....
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Why Brits Love Laughing At Wine Experts
It is heartening that even under lockdown, the first signs of Christmas appear just as always: the Oxford Street lights, mince pies in the shops, and earlier this month the...
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