And those who are beautiful,who can contain them?Rainer Maria Rilke Remember this! No amount of Bacchic revelling can corrupt an honest women.Euripides, The Bacchae Last week a wine trade colleague...
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Blind Review of Jon Bonné’s “The New Wine Rules”
I wanted to read Jon Bonné’s latest wine book, “The New Wine Rules,” but I have a new rule myself. I don’t read books about wine rules. Books about wine...
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What the Clos de Tart sale means for the future of Burgundy
Remind me never to play poker against Frédéric Engerer. On Thursday evening last week, I was tasting at Domaine d’Eugénie in Vosne-Romanée with the CEO of Artémis Domaines and asked...
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Wine clubs: what’s your tribe?
“I have a mind to join a club, and beat you over the head with it.” Groucho Marx As a child, I was often at my nan’s for the Methodist...
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Has the sun set on UK wine blogging?
What does success look like for the UK’s best wine bloggers? Gaining ever more readers? An endless stream of free samples? Or perhaps earning money from advertising? It’s different for...
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Semillon: the naked grape
When I was younger, fitter and considerably trimmer than I am now, I took part (twice) in a wine trade version of The Full Monty for charity. The name of...
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Wine is Just So Depressing
It’s just so hard to learn about wine. I try and I try, but, frankly, it’s depressing. Really depressing. I guess that’s just the way of the world right now....
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Lidl takes the low road
It was a familiar scenario. Offer Brits what seems like a bargain and they’ll form orderly queues at 6.30am on a Bank Holiday Monday. To be fair to those early...
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The Emperor of Wine Donald Trump’s Guerrilla Guide to Wine
Wine is simple, folks. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. It’s simple. Believe me, I know simple. I married simple. Wine isn’t hard to understand. It isn’t hard to understand,...
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Floral testimony
In the car park on my street there is a rose bush. Every so often when walking past I pause to cup one of the red flowers in my hand,...
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Burgundy’s net benefits
It’s squeaky bum time in Chablis at the moment. Grape growers all over the world consult weather forecasts on a regular basis, but in the Yonne it’s almost an obsession....
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Parker in the Bardo
The Emperor of Wine was brooding. What had it all been for, he asked himself. The power, the points, the bluster. Now, nearly 70, the body breaking down like En...
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