I was asked recently: “Why are barrels so expensive?” Well, in a sense they are not expensive. I was paying AUS $1,000 a barrel 20 years ago. So given inflation...
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Facing The Fires
During Napa’s intense “fire season” last year, I wondered what locals have been doing about this menace since 2017. Napa is a moneyed wine region. Surely it has the funds...
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How Democratic Is Rioja?
Imagine being a voter in Liverpool Walton or South Holland and the Deepings. In the first of these constituencies, the Labour Party received 86% of the ballot in the last...
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Perfume And Wine
I fell in love with both perfume and Sauternes at roughly the same time, when I moved to the Côte d’Azur for work in 1982. As it happens, neither had...
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The Whisper Of Umami
I chip into the hard yellow wax over the cork and it shatters; a frustrating rain over my station. Domaine Raveneau’s 2008 Chablis Premier Cru Vaillons is initially tight, mineral...
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Damned Good
Before I knew anything about Roger Scruton, who died last year, I knew him from his wine column in the New Statesman, which ran from 2001 to 2009. In what...
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On Wine Education
If you think A-Levels are hard, it’s because you’ve never attempted the Panhellenic exams. A gruelling, ruthless ordeal, it holds a special place in the Greek national psyche. Perhaps its...
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Voor-Paardeberg: The Birth of the Revolution
South Africa has been experiencing renewed international interest for its wines of genuine quality, thanks in part to The Swartland Revolution; a winemaking movement that took root in the hot...
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Powerful Elegance
There was a broadcast on BBC Radio 3, the other week, of an old recording of Maria Callas in Lucia di Lammermoor. I forget who the other singers were, but...
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Wine’s Invisible Cities
Nested in the discussion of “Big” versus “Small” Champagne is an interesting question I saw posed by Oregon winemaker Jason Lett of Eyrie vineyards: “Is the Traditional Method antithetical to...
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