by Harry Eyres

Deconstructing Wine Descriptions

Near the beginning of the heroically rambling recollections of a lifetime’s passion for wine which he assembled and published as Notes on a Cellar Book, the Victorian literary critic George...

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by Anne Burchett

Hoarding Books And Wines

When I moved into the house I still live in, I thought I would never be able to fill it. It’s not huge but I had few possessions at the...

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by Margaret Rand

Resonant Rosé

To be perfectly clear, I love rosé. On a hot summer’s day it’s all you want; on a cool drizzly summer’s day it reminds you that it is in fact...

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by Andy Neather

Big Money And The Soul Of Wine

You would need a heart of stone not to laugh at the travails of Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger, honorary chairman of the Champagne house and grandson of its founder. The British press...

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by Peter Pharos

The Revolution Won’t Be Vinified

There is something vaguely onanistic in two contributors to the same website taking opposing views in back-to-back columns. As a reader, you are left with the sensation that instead of...

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by Guy Woodward

The Politics of Wine

When I came into the wine industry 20 years ago, my impression was that, politically, it was broadly right-leaning. Certainly the upper echelons of the UK’s fine-wine fraternity were the...

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by Rod Smith MW

More Rayas Than Raisin

For many people in the UK getting into wine in the 1990s Australia was new and vibrant. The ‘sunshine in a glass’ mantra, coupled with labels in English, often with...

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by Charlie Leary

Navigating A Complex Terrain

There are mixed bags and wild ferments, threats and inert gases, stability and prestige Champagne. The content of the 2023 Master of Wine exam presented an extremely high hurdle for...

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by Tim Atkin

Tastings Miss A Trick

The French call it an “embarras de richesses”. The closest we come in English is a confusing abundance or possibly too much of a good thing. But I really appreciated...

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by Tom Hewson

Cultural Elevation

I couldn’t find the right polish for my tan suede shoes that morning, so they’re looking a bit unloved as they sink into the expensive taupe carpet. Nobody is sitting...

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by Oliver Styles

Fail Again, Fail Better?

It began with a conversation about Instagram. I was talking to a photographer friend during a photoshoot and we fell onto the subject of social media. As so often happens,...

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by Peter Pharos

Santorini 2023 Report

“What a wine”, I commented on the Instagram feed of a London wine merchant who had just posted a new import from Etna. “Good enough to give anything on Santorini...

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