Knowing When To Stop
by Margaret Rand
The other week Domaine de Chevalier brought over samples of the 19 components of its 2022 red grand vin, plus a sample of the final blend. I’ve always thought blending...
Margaret Rand
Margaret Rand writes for World of Fine Wine, winesearcher.com, Gourmet Traveller Wine and is general editor of the annual Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book; she has won various Roederer and Lanson awards over the years, including one for Grapes & Wines (2001). Her latest book is 101 Wines to Try Before You Die (2018).
Articles by Margaret Rand
The Stage And The Actor
by Margaret Rand
I had to buy some more wine glasses the other day. I’ve always used Spiegelau ones at home – good quality, but not so expensive that breaking them induces a...
On Complexity
by Margaret Rand
A wine, like a short story, should have a beginning, a middle and an end. Nobody would disagree with that. But how many do? How many start, toddle along for...
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...
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...
A Bag Of Tricks
by Margaret Rand
You can always rely on Olivier Bernard for a good quote. Olivier is the chatelain of Domaine de Chevalier, on which you can always rely for a good wine, and...
Back And Forth
by Margaret Rand
Which is easier, to persuade people to drink a wine young if they think they should age it, or to age a wine they thought they could drink young? You...
Beautiful Things
by Margaret Rand
When a wine costs north of £600 a bottle, what should you expect of it? What is it reasonable to expect of any wine? Is it reasonable to think of...
Pick and Mix
by Margaret Rand
A couple of things have struck me recently. One was Richard Geoffroy, ex-chef de cave of Dom Pérignon, saying casually that he blends everything, even his breakfast orange juice. The...
Cutting Through The Babble
by Margaret Rand
It struck me, watching Katya Kabanova at Glyndebourne this last summer, that opera has terroir. It also has directors, who fulfil the same role as winemakers, either expressing the terroir...
Can We Taste Colour?
by Margaret Rand
It is probably safe, at this distance in time, to confess. The PR who organised it is dead; those at Rémy Martin will have moved onwards, upwards, outwards. It was,...
Wines That Sing To Themselves
by Margaret Rand
The trouble with taking human emotions and dumping them on to unsuspecting bottles is that they bring their connotations with them. A wine can be cheerful, or dour; that’s pretty...