I think of winemaking as a form of translation. Product A (grapes) is transformed into Product B (wine). Very simple, really. As you will know, traditionally, translation involves the conversion...
Dream’s hit Things Can Only Get Better was the theme tune of Britain’s Labour Party in Tony Blair’s 1997 victory, much reprised at Labour’s election landslide earlier this month. It...
Wimbledon is currently in full swing and with it the usual jamboree of British wins in the first week, middle-class patriotism and £12 Pimms. As a child who grew up...
Can winemakers still be self-taught? Or must they, in this technocratic age, be able to sport some letters after their name? When I asked Peter Hall, the arch-maverick of Breaky...
Once it enters your mind, the question becomes so persistent, so obstinate in its highlighting of an anomaly, that it’s impossible to remove. What if the Emperor’s weavers were telling...
Wolfgang Amadeus composed to a genre, like every author in his era. A sonata consisted of three separate pieces, the first telling the story of tonal conflict between two contrasting...
At first sight, it looked like a PR disaster. Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, was filmed falling off a paddleboard into Lake Windermere five times. He’s a...
In the Azorean psyche lies a shared history of inhabiting a place shaped by lava flows and volcanic eruptions. There is also the constant threat of earthquakes and storms, which...
In October 1972, New York magazine published a special issue on wine called the “Whole Grape Catalogue.” Noting that “the past few months have seen enormous growth in the New...
For the past three years I’ve been serving on the committee of my local tennis club in west London. Calling it a tennis club is accurate up to a point;...
This year’s Bordeaux En Primeur campaign has attracted much controversy over release prices. But while a number of leading châteaux have made substantial cuts on what they charged for the...
What constitutes high alcohol now? In table wines, I mean; fortifieds haven’t changed. But I recall the horror when reds started hitting 14%. Then 14.5%. And now? 14% seems quite...