The Curse Of Low And No Alcohol Wine
by Andy Neather
Exciting news! Elton John has launched his own alcohol-free wine. Granted, to many of us it seemed scarcely believable that Sir Elton hadn’t previously done so: he’d already been beaten...
Andy Neather
Andy Neather was the London Evening Standard’s wine critic between 2005 and 2012. He now blogs at https://aviewfrommytable.substack.com. Twitter: @hernehillandy
Articles by Andy Neather
Spanish Strategies
by Andy Neather
The setting was magical, steep terraces plunging to the River Miño below. But José Moure was hard-headed about the challenges: “We’re in crisis – the big buyers bought very few...
Where Next For Appellations?
by Andy Neather
Massive hailstones ravaged Chablis last year and fires consumed thousands of hectares in Galicia last month: climate change is accelerating. Grape-growing conditions in classic regions simply aren’t the same as...
Spain’s Wine Revolution
by Andy Neather
Marta Labanda led me up the steep, black slopes of Barranca del Obispo. Here in Lanzarote, growers cultivate vines in hollows dug out of the granular black volcanic ash. It’s...
Good Enough?
by Andy Neather
If you ordered a glass of Sancerre and were served a cheap Sauvignon Blanc instead, would you notice? What about if you asked for Chablis but got the Sauvignon Plonk?...
Bulking Up
by Andy Neather
In the vast factory I’m surrounded by the clink of bottling lines. Despite the huge space, there aren’t many workers, and most of them are either adjusting robots or zipping...
Reasons To Be Cheerful
by Andy Neather
This is never a particularly joyful month for the wine industry. Nobody is ever buying much just after Christmas. And these days, the festival of self-denying piousness that is Dry...
Under The Influence
by Andy Neather
It wasn’t the most sublime wine moment of 2024 but it was the most watched. During April’s London Marathon, wine merchant Tom Gilbey (interviewed on Cork Talk last week) stopped...
Is Wine’s Future Doomed?
by Andy Neather
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...
Getting Better All The Time?
by Andy Neather
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...
Just Another Luxury Product?
by Andy Neather
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...
Wine’s Next Price Shock
by Andy Neather
Call it the shock of the mediocre. Earlier this month in a West Country pub, I scanned the wine list out of idle interest. It offered just two wines under...