The bucolic opening sequence to The Hunger Games makes the dystopic Panem State seem homely; a place where you can stitch a quilt, or share a venison kill with your...
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Understanding Mouthfeel
Mouthfeel is tribology! What makes a Barolo so different from a Spätburgunder? What about distinguishing between a Tannat and a Beaujolais? First and foremost, it’s the mouthfeel — the sensations...
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Is There Any Justification For Wine?
The anti-wine forces are massing and strengthening in a way I haven’t experienced in my lifetime. Until very recently, seeing a seminar advertised on “The Future of Wine” I would...
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Au Revoir, Fiona
Writing a weekly column about wine for a national newspaper isn’t easy. I’ve been there done that – for 21 years. Keeping each article fresh is challenging. Some journalists don’t...
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Falling In Love With Baga
If you enjoy Barolo or Burgundy, I would recommend trying Bairrada, the Portuguese region most known for the red grape, Baga. These are lofty comparators, but justified: Baga retains high...
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Translation, Treachery And Terroir
I think of winemaking as a form of translation. Product A (grapes) is transformed into Product B (wine). Very simple, really. As you will know, traditionally, translation involves the conversion...
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Getting Better All The Time?
Dream’s hit Things Can Only Get Better was the theme tune of Britain’s Labour Party in Tony Blair’s 1997 victory, much reprised at Labour’s election landslide earlier this month. It...
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Winebledon – Matching Wine And Tennis
Wimbledon is currently in full swing and with it the usual jamboree of British wins in the first week, middle-class patriotism and £12 Pimms. As a child who grew up...
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By The Book?
Can winemakers still be self-taught? Or must they, in this technocratic age, be able to sport some letters after their name? When I asked Peter Hall, the arch-maverick of Breaky...
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The Wine Emperor’s New Clothes
Once it enters your mind, the question becomes so persistent, so obstinate in its highlighting of an anomaly, that it’s impossible to remove. What if the Emperor’s weavers were telling...
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Never A False Note
Wolfgang Amadeus composed to a genre, like every author in his era. A sonata consisted of three separate pieces, the first telling the story of tonal conflict between two contrasting...
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Having Fun With Wine
At first sight, it looked like a PR disaster. Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, was filmed falling off a paddleboard into Lake Windermere five times. He’s a...
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