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...
Read MoreWhose wine is it anyway?
“…and cool wine, fitting glove-like over those finer nerves that seem to tremble from the roof of my mouth and make it spread (as I drink) into a domed cavern,...
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Roll over leafroll?
The vineyards of the Western Cape are at their most beautiful in the autumn, a variegated canvas of browns, reds, oranges and yellows. But those colours hide a secret that...
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The Threat of Global Wine Terrorism
The threat of global terrorism has finally reached the wine business. Wineries, importers, sommeliers, wine writers— all have found themselves under siege from various loosely organized but determined groups of...
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Fino’s context warning
Elegy V Here take my picture; though I bid farewellThine, in my heart, where my soul dwells, shall dwell. Tis like me now, but I dead, ‘twill be more When...
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The winelover’s secret map
Standing in his sun-drenched hallway, my friend and I stood before the newly-hung painting that he bought not long ago. “With a bit of luck, it might even go up...
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News from the Court of Natural Sommeliers
The Court of Natural Sommeliers is pleased to announce that it is now accepting applications from qualified people in the wine trade who wish to pursue their N.S. There are...
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Is food and wine matching an art?
At the height of her fame as a Strictly Come Dancing and Celebrity Fit Club contestant, the ex-Tory MP Ann Widdecombe was asked to write a book about how to...
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South America’s march on the future
This year is the 200th anniversary of one of the key events in Latin American history. In January 1817, the Army of the Andes set off from Mendoza, determined to...
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