On a cold, bright Saturday afternoon in January, a student couple entered my Cambridge wine shop-bar, Amphora. It was early and the venue was empty. After glancing at the extensive...
Read More
Make Albania Great Again
Albania and Sussex have a lot in common. Similar population, with most young people moving to London. Pronunciation incomprehensible to outsiders. 150 miles of gorgeous limestone coastline. And of course,...
Read More
Vintage Intrigue
One-time Deputy Paymaster to the British Forces, Richard Hill (1655-1727) had an honest soul and functioned as a forthright servant of His Majesty’s Government. For although he loved wine, perhaps...
Read More
I’m A Hundred On That
“Peter,” one of my fellow diners said, “you have written about wine scores a couple of times, haven’t you?”. Well, time for another one I guess. Why do we keep...
Read More
Peaks And Troughs
I’ve always liked Sauzet Burgundies well enough. And if that sounds tepid, it’s supposed to: they were clearly very good, but just never set my pulses racing. And then this...
Read More
Hallowed Ground
It was a scary moment, at least in wine terms. There I was in the cellar at Domaine Leroy in Vosne-Romanée, tasting some of the most expensive reds on the...
Read More
Maps Of Flavours
‘Which Greek wineries do you rate?’ my new kind-of-colleague asked when we broke for coffee. ‘Thymiopoulos,’ I said, hoping and praying that either our Italian colleague would interrupt, or that...
Read More
In Praise Of Wine Elitism
Every now and again as a wine person, it’s salutary to be reminded of the limits of the British public’s knowledge of wine and the dense knot of anxieties surrounding...
Read More
Different Wine Talk
I am fascinated by wine descriptions. From a series of adjectives, often without a verb to change them into a sentence, to accounts using metaphors whose poetry can take your...
Read More
We’ve Never Had It So Good
“I have opinions of my own, strong opinions,” that beacon of American conservative thought, George W. Bush, is alleged to have told us, “but I don’t always agree with them.”...
Read More
Ultimate Aromatherapy
One of the first challenges of knowing any subject is learning to speak its language. Key terms allow aficionados to rapidly convey the gist of a wine in short-hand, and...
Read More
The Joys In Between
“Taste must not be confused with gastronomy. Whereas taste in the natural gift of recognizing and loving perfection, gastronomy is the set of rules which govern the cultivation and education...
Read More