The annual Bordeaux tasting by the Institute of Masters of Wine brings together 100 or so of the best wines of Bordeaux four years after the vintage. Most of the...
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The Official 2013 Bordeaux Vintage Report
Here in Bordeaux, we’re Singin’ in the Rain over the wonderful 2013 Harvest. Many might compare 2013 to the magical vintage of 1984, a vintage memorialized by the great George...
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A spoonful of sugar
There’s nothing like delivering a speech about the UK wine market to make you focus on its strengths and weaknesses. I was asked to talk to a group of Spanish...
Read MoreThe First Rule of Wine Club
Over the past twenty years book clubs have become part of the social fabric of the UK. A recent article in The Telegraph suggests there are now 50,000 in the...
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Wine and the Académie Française
The arrival of President Jean Suis-Convaincu at the Elysée Palace in 2017 changed everything – but only briefly after Tea Party Republicans drove the world into a second financial crisis...
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What it takes to make great wine
What does it take to make a great wine? An amazing vineyard is the most obvious answer, preferably but not necessarily planted with old vines. You can’t put lipstick on...
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The Wisdom of Age
“A vineyard planted at the gates of hell”, doesn’t sound like the most promising source of fine wine. You’d expect it to make a pruney, full-bodied red or a fiery...
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The Sommeliers’ Last Wish Foundation
Dear Friend of Wine, Hello, you’ve probably heard of me. My name is Larry Anosmia, and I’m the best Master Sommelier in America. Yes, that Larry Anosmia, star of the...
Read MoreCold rush
It was a crude but effective way of making a wine buying decision: Old World vs. New World. You had savoury, medium-bodied classic styles from Europe on the one hand;...
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The Beautiful South
Welcome! Bienvenidos! Thobela! Using a modern day riff on Joel Grey’s famous song in Cabaret, The Beautiful South held its first, keenly-awaited tasting in London last week. If you’ve not...
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Losing wood: the death of the barrel
The ISPB – International Society for the Protection of Birds – announced yesterday that it was supporting the “Get Wood” campaign recently launched by France’s leading barrel-making organisation FAT –...
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Wine terrorism: meet the CRAV
The year is 1973. A dark cloud has gathered over Europe. Troubled governments are scrambling to get to grips with revolutionary organisations across a continent riven with economic hardship and...
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