Episode 1: “By-the-Glass at the O.K. Corral” A famous Tombstone watering hole hires Larry Anosmia MS to increase sales and keep an eye on the Clanton gang. Doc Holliday takes...
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Heritage: boon or burden?
Good morning, goeie more, everyone, and thank you for giving up part of your Saturday to be here at Nederburg. I’d also like to thank Distell, the Auction and its...
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The Gold Standard
On the first day of the Hunter Valley Wine Show, Major Al Lynch, in full military fatigues, explained to the wine judges what was expected of them: “if you are...
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Love among The Somms
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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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...
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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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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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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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