How do you write a wine book that appeals to the general reader? All the stuff about schist, clones and yields that make up a good part of wine writing...
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Carry That Weight
A petition addressed to ‘Wine Trade Associations’ written by Aleesha Hansel, and co-signed by Jancis Robinson, is asking for three steps to be taken in what, Hansel acknowledges herself, is...
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When?
The ‘what’ can take a thought or two, the how, where, with whom, barely a moment. But the ‘when’, ah the ‘when’, there’s the rub. I don’t have a favorite...
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Dreamland
The closer we get to the Turner Contemporary, the smaller it seems. From across the bay its modernist, factory-like form stands like a monument to industriousness next to Margate’s grungy-chic...
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Forks In The Road
For Ulysses, Dorothy Gale and Neil Armstrong there was no place like home. Dorothy left the Emerald City yearning for Kansas. After walking on the moon, Neil Armstrong wanted nothing more...
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To Each According To Their Salary?
So here we are. Fine wine index Liv-ex is reaching its highest levels at the moment, meaning the world’s greatest wines are inexorably getting claimed by your boss. Or your...
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Cutting Through The Babble
It struck me, watching Katya Kabanova at Glyndebourne this last summer, that opera has terroir. It also has directors, who fulfil the same role as winemakers, either expressing the terroir...
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The Great British Restaurant Review
The biggest difference between the two sides of the pond isn’t a few redundant ues or a disagreement on the geometry of a football. It is that Americans are, well,...
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On The Road Again
After 18 months of Zoom calls, Instagram Lives and home tastings, of Coravin capsules, small samples and endless recycling bags, I finally got to visit a wine region two weeks...
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Humanising The New Normal
There are places in Europe where crowds gather to watch cows being let out of their barns after a winter shut up eating hay. It’s a gladdening sight: the beasts...
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The Great Exchange
The poet and sommelier Amanda Smeltz once wrote about how geography – whether you’re based in a small town or in a teeming metropolis – determines which wines you can...
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The Human Factor
Do you have any bottles of South African wine in your cellar? Go and have a look at the certification seal (usually attached to the neck of the bottle). It’s...
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