The Somms are a strange people, only recently discovered by Westerners. Little is known about where they originated, though most anthropologists agree that it was very early in the 21st...
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Selling California: the Impossible job?
Managing England’s perennially underachieving football team is sometimes described as “the impossible job”. A delusional fan base, a fickle and vicious tabloid press and a set of players who, whatever...
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Rudy Kurniawan: last man standing?
Before watching the documentary Sour Grapes, I had a mental image of American wine collectors as like the effete Crane brothers in Frasier. What I did not expect was what...
Read MoreThe Art of Comparison
‘Stop comparing yourself to others’ is advice we are given early on in life and, depending how well we heed it, quite often later in life. It’s reasonable counsel, particularly...
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Rethinking wine: back to the future?
It might surprise you to learn that London had a fleet of electric taxis in the late 19th century. They were known as hummingbirds because of the noise they made....
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Ventoux: wild wild East
“Bonjour!” beamed the skinny young monk as he hurried past me down the steep dirt path, his brown habit flapping behind him. It turns out the local monastery had only...
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Wine’s Future Shock
So many celebrities – and celebrity winemakers – have died this year that it was easy to miss the recent passing of Alvin Toffler. Alvin who, some of you may...
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Donald Trump’s World Atlas of Wine
What is it with you people that you want to know what I think about wine all the time? When I became the new Emperor of Wine, and, really, I’m...
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On Wine and Europe
It is hard to think of wine and not think of Europe and its influence on wine and the people who drink it. So profound is Europe’s impact, it hardly...
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What would Brexit mean for the wine business?
What will Brexit mean for the wine business? In the traumatic week that has followed the referendum and the decision of 52% of voters to leave the European Union, the...
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Trump, Brexit and other endangered grape varieties
Estimates of the number of varieties of Vitis vinifera in cultivation vary widely. In the seminal work, “Wine Grapes,” the grape expert Dr. José Vouillamoz (pronounced “Wham-O”) asserts that the...
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She said, he said
I hadn’t expected we’d discuss gender issues during the Burgundy masterclass at the exclusive Len Evans Tutorial in the Hunter Valley, but somewhere between the Volnay and the Chambertin the...
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