Hello, my name is Ronald. And I’m a Crapaholic. Hello, Ronald! This is my first time speaking at a Crapaholics Anonymous meeting, but I’ve been thinking a lot about the...
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Ignoring the wine snobs
When I was a music student back in the 1990s, a bomb went off in classical music. The world’s three greatest tenors – Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and José Carreras...
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Rock n’ roll excess
When I listen to electro I crave Riesling. The precise polished perfection of the sound somehow recalls the technicolour citrus acidity of the wine. Châteauneuf-du-Pape however suggests the gothic aesthetic,...
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Is meat really made for Malbec?
The wine trade loves a good shibboleth. Sauternes is the best match for foie gras, for instance. (Wrong, unless you’re into having your palate clagged up by an unctuous sweet...
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Making wine on the West Bank
Imagine a wine region where delays at checkpoints are a part of daily life and your land can be confiscated at any time for “security reasons”. Where daily life is...
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Can you mix wine and politics?
“Stick to wine, Tim – you’re wasting time.” If you spend as many hours on social media channels as I do, then you get used to – and even rather...
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How the Russians are secretly destroying the wine business
Solid evidence has been slow in coming, but there is little doubt that over the past decade the Russian government, under the direction of Vladimir Putin, has been tampering with...
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Tricky food and wine matches
I really shouldn’t admit this as I could be talking myself out of a job, but most food and wine matching comes down to basic common sense. You don’t have...
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Initiating the uninitiated
Wine lists can be difficult for the uninitiated to understand. One restaurant in Los Angeles, Hatchet Hall, has taken this a step further: not only is their list incomprehensible to...
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New Zealand’s hothouse Syrah
In 1984, a man called Dr Alan Limmer was doing some work at a government viticultural research station on North Island, New Zealand. One day he heard it was about...
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Almost human?
What do you think of the following tasting note? “Inconspicuous boysenberries and cigar wrappers revel in unresolved rosehips, while dried wormwood and chemically tanned leather swim amongst illusive black liquorice.”...
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FemSomm
Finally, Ladies, a new wine credential that will take the Miss out of wine misogyny. FemSomm! FemSomm is an idea whose time has come. Tired of being 10% of the...
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