Where are we to find such bottles? It’s harder than you might think, particularly if you want to drink something at 12% or below. White wines from the cooler parts...
Read MoreFirst Quench hits the wall
Remember the date. For anyone who works in the booze trade, not least those of you who are employed by First Quench Retailing, October 29th 2009 could turn out to...
Read MoreChristmas reds and whites
WHITE 2008 Errazuriz Chardonnay, Casablanca Valley (£4.99 each for two, 13.5%, Majestic). Reduced from £7.99, which makes it a stunning deal, this is an easy drinking, peach and citrus...
Read MoreSeeing the Light
Imagine the scene in A&E. A patient is nursing a badly sprained wrist and the duty doctor asks what happened. Various possibilities jostle in his mind. Over-enthusiastic gym visit? Domestic...
Read MoreWhat the general public drinks
If I had a tenner for every time a supermarket retailer has told me that “we’re giving our customers what they want”, I’d have retired to an offshore tax haven...
Read MoreLand of Plenty
There can’t be many people who would pay £410 for a bottle of red wine. Even by the silly-money standards of Bordeaux, that’s a huge amount of dosh. But pay...
Read MoreA Vine Romance
Ever fancied making your own wine? Judging by the number of people who tell me they’re considering a change of lifestyle, moving to somewhere where the sun shines and no...
Read MoreJudging books by their covers
In case you missed the hoopla, Dan Brown’s new novel, The Lost Symbol, was published on September 15th. In the space of a few weeks, Mr Brown has sold more...
Read MoreAdolfo Hurtado
Relaxed, friendly and unfazed, Adolfo Hurtado is equanimity made flesh. There may be moments when he loses his rag mid-harvest — berating a hapless cellar hand or smashing his knuckles...
Read MoreLaithwaites on the up
Laithwaites, the UK’s biggest home-delivery wine business, has always reminded me of Dan Brown: loved by the general public, but dismissed as a bit of a joke by us critics....
Read MoreA toast to Grenache
TS Eliot got it wrong in my view: October, not April, is the cruellest month. Once the clocks go back you know you’re in for a winter of sniffles, short...
Read MoreGo wild with The Bunch
Attending a tasting run by The Bunch, a group of Britain’s leading independent wine merchants, is like watching The Magnificent Seven. Every time the posse reassembles, it seems to have...
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