Faith In Fakes

by Tim Atkin
A good friend of mine turned 80 recently. To celebrate, he invited a few of us round for dinner and opened a bottle of 1942 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Grands...

Mistreating Wine

by Margaret Rand
First of all, I should apologise to Lilian Barton. All I can say is that it wasn’t altogether my fault. A friend brought a bottle of Léoville-Barton 2014 to dinner...

The Curse Of Bordeaux

by Andy Neather
We splashed in the Saint Emilion lavoir, desperate to cool off on a 39-degree day in August. Yet this wasn’t when the weirdness of this broiling year really hit me....

What Are Americans Drinking?

by Farrah Berrou
For close to a year, I’ve been working as the self-proclaimed Ancient World specialist in a wine shop. In the process of spitting samples into a sink with various salesmen,...

The Tale of Two Château Palmers

by Charlie Leary
What would Major General Charles Palmer think of Château Palmer being turned into a public cinema in 2022? This is a different Chíateau Palmer from the one most wine lovers...

The Spirit, Not The Letter

by Peter Pharos
Engaging in wine discourse means you get to meet more strawmen than a crow. Usually, those are conveniently arranged in dipoles. There are the consumer champions, speaking for The People,...

A Dachshund’s Ear

by Margaret Rand
My school coat was made of Harris Tweed. This is not relevant to anything, except that the other day I came across a wine with Harris Tweed tannins. They were...

Final Score?

by Tim Atkin
You’ve come a long way, baby. Watching the final of the Euro 2022 women’s football tournament, I was reminded of an advertising slogan for Virginia Slims cigarettes, of all things,...

Santorini Assyrtiko 2022 Report

by Peter Pharos
It is rather unlucky, if not downright unwise, to start producing a report on a grape variety at a point in time where its prime terroir underperformed. When I compiled...