It was a Life on Mars moment. Hearing about the imminent relaunch of Black Tower made me feel like Sam Tyler, the detective in the BBC television series who gets...
Read MoreA Hedonist’s Paradise
No one needs an excuse to go to Wellington, New Zealand’s most cosmopolitan, food-loving city, when it’s central heating and thermals time back in Europe. But throw in the chance...
Read MoreAre we ready for Turkish wine?
“Read it? I know him.” Travelling around Turkey on a wine trip, there are times when you’re reminded of the joke about the Polish man who goes to the optician’s...
Read MoreHappy Birthday, Cloudy Bay
Happy birthday, Cloudy Bay. As the first grapes of 2010 are picked in Marlborough, New Zealand’s largest wine region, the country’s most famous winery is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Who...
Read MoreThe cheat’s guide to wine
There must be some very long faces on the other side of the Channel at the moment. The French have always suspected we were a treacherous bunch, but they’ve just...
Read MoreA beginner’s guide to Champagne
THE WINE BOX Become an instant expert — this month: Champagne Dom Pérignon didn’t invent bubbles; we did. Christopher Merret presented a paper to the Royal Society about sparkling wine...
Read MoreBeware of floods, fires and locusts
If “Sex change bishop in mercy dash to Palace” is the funniest fictitious headline ever written, then “Small earthquake in Chile: not many dead” is surely the dullest. Claud Cockburn’s...
Read MoreFrench wines and Charles Aznavour
“Fall in love with France again” sounds like a Charles Aznavour song — imagine it crooned in a soft-toned Gallic accent — but it’s actually the title that one importer...
Read MoreWine: Is it the real thing?
How could they tell? The recent kerfuffle about fake pinot noir in the Languedoc reminded me of Dorothy Parker’s quip about the death of President Calvin Coolidge. If you missed...
Read MoreEverything you need to know about Prosecco
Italy is blessed with many beautiful places, but the view from the top of the Cartizze hill in Conegliano Valdobbiadene is still a bit special. The vineyard itself, Prosecco’s only...
Read MoreThe Fine Wine Game
The hype in Bordeaux began before a single grape had been crushed. The 2009 harvest, according to several château owners, was one of the finest they’d ever seen. Seasoned Bordeaux...
Read MoreInterview with Pedro Parra
Pedro Parra is crouching in a hole with a small hammer in his hand, chipping away at the soil like a demented sculptor. “Granitic, pure grantic,” he says, lifting a...
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