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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A Natural High
In the Azorean psyche lies a shared history of inhabiting a place shaped by lava flows and volcanic eruptions. There is also the constant threat of earthquakes and storms, which...
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A Wine Time Capsule
In October 1972, New York magazine published a special issue on wine called the “Whole Grape Catalogue.” Noting that “the past few months have seen enormous growth in the New...
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Dorothy Parker Wines
For the past three years I’ve been serving on the committee of my local tennis club in west London. Calling it a tennis club is accurate up to a point;...
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Just Another Luxury Product?
This year’s Bordeaux En Primeur campaign has attracted much controversy over release prices. But while a number of leading châteaux have made substantial cuts on what they charged for the...
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The Weight Of Wine
What constitutes high alcohol now? In table wines, I mean; fortifieds haven’t changed. But I recall the horror when reds started hitting 14%. Then 14.5%. And now? 14% seems quite...
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A Classic In The Making?
After the excessive heat of 2022, the vintage 2023 marks a return to normality for Bordeaux. Had this vintage happened 30, or even 20, years ago, it would have gone...
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