Every spring, Rhône ringleader Michel Chapoutier comes to London to unveil the new vintage of his top single vineyard wines, the Sélections Parcellaires. It’s a hotly anticipated tasting for a...
Whizzing home in my driverless car, I zip past yet another boarded-up wine shop. I suspected this one wouldn’t last much past 2020. You couldn’t sample the wines or buy...
When tasting my way through a large number of unfamiliar wines, there are a few tell-tale signs that I’ve encountered something special. Firstly, an involuntary smile creeps over my face....
Every year, after an overindulgent Christmas, the wine trade books an appointment with me for its annual health check. Though most of its vital signs are entirely typical for a...
Sitting in the October sunshine, chewing on the corner of my baguette, I wonder how many others have witnessed this timeless scene: pickers working their way up rows of vines,...
Like most kids of my generation, I was obsessed with Star Wars. My favourite scene was the Mos Eisley Cantina, where Luke Skywalker meets Han Solo in a violent dive...
I still remember the first time I was offered a glass of wine at the hairdresser’s. I thought this was a great idea until, on picking it up for a...
Standing at the baggage carousel in Timişoara Airport in western Romania, I was approached by a friendly fellow traveller. “You here for the IW Conference too?” he said. “Erm… International...
The vintage I moved to London in August 2003 on one of the hottest days in living memory. Not the ideal conditions for shifting furniture up flights of stairs. Not...
One wine, in one place, for one year only. It’s hard enough making wine in the same place each year, so as winemaking philosophies go it doesn’t get much more...
In the UK we can be a bit prejudiced against flavoured wines and spirits. It’s not hard to see why if you look at the current proliferation of ‘aromatised wine-based...
When visiting an art gallery, I prefer to wander alone rather than in company. To be left to think, for as long as it takes, in front of any image...
