One of my abiding memories from my days editing Decanter magazine comes from the panel tastings we used to hold in the 10th-floor executive suite overlooking the Tate Modern. Twice...
I worry that we have forgotten to feel wine. We live a colorful wine life – in white, red, orange, and pink. Wine has possibly never been so restless, so...
Last week on the eve of my 19 year-old daughter’s departure for university, the last of our three children to leave, we shared wine over Korean barbecue. To hear some...
In London, if you want your friends to hate you, give their dog a squeaky toy. In Ireland, or at least in the house on the West Coast where I’m...
The bucolic opening sequence to The Hunger Games makes the dystopic Panem State seem homely; a place where you can stitch a quilt, or share a venison kill with your...
Mouthfeel is tribology! What makes a Barolo so different from a Spätburgunder? What about distinguishing between a Tannat and a Beaujolais? First and foremost, it’s the mouthfeel — the sensations...
The anti-wine forces are massing and strengthening in a way I haven’t experienced in my lifetime. Until very recently, seeing a seminar advertised on “The Future of Wine” I would...
Writing a weekly column about wine for a national newspaper isn’t easy. I’ve been there done that – for 21 years. Keeping each article fresh is challenging. Some journalists don’t...
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...