If you are wondering why Threads has not caught up with Twitter yet, the answer is Direct Messages. A lot is made of the performative nature of social media posts,...
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Rioja On The Rocks
It should have been a moment of celebration, a chance to hymn the qualities of a special place. José Luiz Pérez-Linares’ documentary, Rioja: La Tierra de Mil Vinos, will be...
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Deconstructing Wine Descriptions
Near the beginning of the heroically rambling recollections of a lifetime’s passion for wine which he assembled and published as Notes on a Cellar Book, the Victorian literary critic George...
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Hoarding Books And Wines
When I moved into the house I still live in, I thought I would never be able to fill it. It’s not huge but I had few possessions at the...
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Resonant Rosé
To be perfectly clear, I love rosé. On a hot summer’s day it’s all you want; on a cool drizzly summer’s day it reminds you that it is in fact...
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Big Money And The Soul Of Wine
You would need a heart of stone not to laugh at the travails of Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger, honorary chairman of the Champagne house and grandson of its founder. The British press...
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The Revolution Won’t Be Vinified
There is something vaguely onanistic in two contributors to the same website taking opposing views in back-to-back columns. As a reader, you are left with the sensation that instead of...
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The Politics of Wine
When I came into the wine industry 20 years ago, my impression was that, politically, it was broadly right-leaning. Certainly the upper echelons of the UK’s fine-wine fraternity were the...
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More Rayas Than Raisin
For many people in the UK getting into wine in the 1990s Australia was new and vibrant. The ‘sunshine in a glass’ mantra, coupled with labels in English, often with...
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Navigating A Complex Terrain
There are mixed bags and wild ferments, threats and inert gases, stability and prestige Champagne. The content of the 2023 Master of Wine exam presented an extremely high hurdle for...
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Tastings Miss A Trick
The French call it an “embarras de richesses”. The closest we come in English is a confusing abundance or possibly too much of a good thing. But I really appreciated...
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Cultural Elevation
I couldn’t find the right polish for my tan suede shoes that morning, so they’re looking a bit unloved as they sink into the expensive taupe carpet. Nobody is sitting...
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