How do you spend $47,221.09 on lunch for six people? Assuming your credit card company will authorise the transaction, it’s surprisingly easy if you’re a billionaire. To paraphrase Withnail in...
Read MoreAu revoir, Chamarré?
“Made in France, enjoyed everywhere,” runs the tag line on Chamarré’s appropriately colourful website. At the time of writing, both parts of this statement remain true, but for how much...
Read MoreThe trouble with Australia
Australians don’t do pessimism. They’re generally such a chipper, stop-moaning-and-get on with-it nation that they’d rather share a hot tub with a great white shark than be accused of whingeing...
Read MoreGrenache and Woody Allen’s Zelig
Some grapes are born great, some achieve greatness, while others have greatness thrust upon them. But what about the supporting actors: the spear carriers, the chorus, the walk-on parts? There...
Read MoreWorld Cup Wines
Here we go. Or rather ‘ere we go, ‘ere we go, ‘ere we go. Unless you’ve been in solitary confinement for the last year, you’ll be aware that the World...
Read MoreWhat’s great about Grenache
Delegates at the first ever conference dedicated to Grenache were handed a bag celebrating “G-Day” upon arrival, a tongue-in-cheek allusion to the Normandy landings in June sixty-six years earlier. To...
Read MoreA taste of English fizz
How do you define Englishness? To some, it’s village greens, warm beer, stiff upper lips, pinstriped suits and the changing of the guard. To others, it’s a little less idealised...
Read MoreBeaujolais – more than nouveau
Talking about Beaujolais in May feels weird, like donning thermals in the height of summer. This vibrant, juicy red is so closely associated with Beaujolais nouveau day, a worldwide celebration...
Read MoreLIWF: what does the future hold?
How was it for you? As the spittoons were emptied at the end of the 2010 London International Wine Fair, it was the question on the lips of many of...
Read MoreWine and the spirit of co-operation
Co-operation may be fashionable in political circles at the moment, but in the wine business it’s increasingly regarded as the equivalent of a tweed skirt: frumpy, moth-eaten and distinctly old-fashioned....
Read MoreThe big three: feedback from the spring tastings
It was a neat coincidence. As we entered the final week of the Barclays Premiership, with Chelsea and Manchester United competing for the trophy, so the two best high street...
Read MoreA cloud with a silver lining: natural wines
Walk into any wine shop and you can see the bottles that sell, placed strategically in the fridge or in attention-grabbing piles close to the till. The wall flowers are...
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