Feminism is the watch-word du jour, and not just among women of a certain age and political inclination. The drive for gender equality, and, more saliently, accountability, had ‘feminism’ named...
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What have wine critics ever done for us?
Wine is a many-maligned thing. The punters are snobs and bores; the servers are sycophants or stuck-up; the vendors dress the emperor in the finest invisible silk. None, however, is...
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Wine’s race to the bottom
Does anyone remember Safeway? In its day, it had one of the best supermarket wine ranges in the UK: diverse, daring and invariably well selected. When the chain was taken...
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Erotica for the Natural Wine Lover
He was the most handsome man in the bar. I knew he was the one when he walked over to the jukebox and selected my favorite song — The Police’s...
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Wine and Opera: Traveling Down Parallel Roads?
The opening text incensed me. It was The New York Times review of The Metropolitan Opera’s Elektra by Anthony Tommasini. “The Metropolitan Opera is struggling right now, facing longstanding challenges...
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Accented French – the red wines of north-eastern Greece
Every oenophile probably has that one moment of public blind tasting when it All Goes Right. Mine came sometime in the mid-noughties at the rooftop bar of the Athens Hilton....
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Missing link
The UK is home to over 400 branches of Nando’s. Greene King runs over 3,100 pubs and restaurants. There are over 2,300 Costa cafes; 12 in Chelmsford alone. We British...
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Protecting the global spirit of wine
Anyone who thinks that wine and politics inhabit different worlds might like to have a word with some Californian producers right now. As part of the escalating trade war between...
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The NRA Wine Club – Locked and Loaded
Hello, I’m Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association inviting you to become a member of the NRA Wine Club. At the NRA, we believe that nothing goes better with...
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Wine and social media: goodbye medium+ acidity?
Marketeers have referred to 2018 as the year of the influencer – and it surely will be for sectors which have clearly defined the distinction between celebrity and social media...
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The Lismore Sauvignon Blanc Tasting
The fourth annual Lismore tasting, pitching South Africa against the rest of the world, focused on wooded Sauvignon Blanc and white Bordeaux blends. In previous editions we have looked at...
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English wine and the Union Flag
What does the Union Jack symbolise to you? Pride? Shame? Sovereignty? Populism? Peace? Colonialism? All are possible responses and have been almost since the flag was designed in 1800 to...
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