There’s a truly wonderful mathematics-based essay on the improbability of the cheating couple in The Piña Colada Song (aka Escape by Rupert Holmes) ending up on a blind date with...
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White wine rising
Though the “ABC”, or “Anything But Chardonnay” campaign continues to rail against it, Chardonnay remains the favourite white grape of USA wine drinkers. It is also the planet’s most planted,...
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Beyond the Cellar Door
The pencil was a sharp as a tack. The tasting sheets were beautifully designed, with just the right amount of information: geeky, yet precise, containing useful details about vineyards and...
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The Wedding Wine Tasting
Caroline’s laugh tinkled, hollow; like the second pint hitting the urinal. Harry squeezed her thigh under the table. Last night, they’d had a serious discussion about whether elopement was a...
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Farewell to a great Burgundian
Some wine personalities take their final bow in front of cathedrals full of mourners; others disappear without fanfare or warm words. William Fèvre, one of the great figures of Burgundy,...
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Why Do Brits Hate Wine?
My first wine piece was on Xinomavro, my second on Brexit, my third on why Brits hate wine. If I am writing about wine ten years from now, I think...
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Misunderstood Wines
There are certain rights-of-passage conversations that take place as we make our journeys in life. Which football team do you support? Where did you grow up? What was your first...
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One woman and her corkscrew
Like antlers on the wall, old Punch cartoons in the downstairs loo or a second-hand copy of Catch-22 in a student’s bedroom, the corkscrew in my handbag has been the...
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Killing the canary
“Phew. What A Scorcher!” I’m old enough to remember June 1976, when we had 15 consecutive days above 32°C. The Sun’s headline captured some of the excitement I felt as...
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Challenging Convention
The Japanese saying, “He who runs after two hares will catch neither”, explains the nation’s resolute pursuit of quality. It not unusual to hear of a chef in a family...
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