When you imagine the grape harvest, what do you see? Green vines jewelled with clusters of plump golden grapes, planted in long rows bordered with grasses and wildflowers? Perhaps the...
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The Point of Equilibrium
Someone recently told me that my saying “a bottle of wine is worth whatever the consumer is willing to pay for it” was a lazy, throwaway comment. But it’s the reality! I protest....
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Good Enough?
If you ordered a glass of Sancerre and were served a cheap Sauvignon Blanc instead, would you notice? What about if you asked for Chablis but got the Sauvignon Plonk?...
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Back to the Revolution
The Swartland has got under my skin: the open, dusty, daydream-inducing roads; the dramatic granite outcrops; the big billowing skies; the swathes of slightly unkempt farmland, on the edge of...
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Tides And Time
Earlier this year I took a trip back to Nova Scotia and visited with a few winemakers, all in the stunning Annapolis Valley next to the epic Bay of Fundy...
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Wine Fortunes
“How do you make a small fortune in social media? Start out with a large one,” tweeted Elon Musk shortly after buying Twitter, and I felt like we ought to...
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Seeing Differently
How, today, can a wine surprise us? And does that element of surprise come by accident, while both we and the wine are, as it were, looking elsewhere, or can...
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Under The Weather
Bordeaux needs a break. It was once regarded by the French themselves as the greatest of wine regions, but now youngsters are drinking less (and less wine) – just as...
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A Fair Deal
There are a few grapes still out there on the vines, but the verdict on the quality of the 2025 crop was harvested some time ago. After a run of...
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Tropical Boundaries
My first encounter with Indian wines left me unimpressed. They had a hint of two-stroke exhaust and DEET on the nose, reminiscent of the smell that hits you when the...
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Bulking Up
In the vast factory I’m surrounded by the clink of bottling lines. Despite the huge space, there aren’t many workers, and most of them are either adjusting robots or zipping...
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The Dilution of Terroir
First up, a trigger warning… I’m approaching this article from the premise that terroir exists. It’s a position to which I would hope most readers of this site would subscribe....
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