‘Welcome to the home of the fiasco,’ said the sharply suited Italian. Strange things have happened to me in wineries over the years – my favourite was a board outside...
Wine writers knowingly run the risk of an appearance in Private Eye‘s Pseuds’ Corner every time they describe a wine. The vocabulary of taste, surely the most intimate of our...
If you’ve ever seen the film “Alive” – and I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re about to tuck into steak tartare – then you’ll know that the Andes are a...
With its Cape Dutch architecture, mountain-fringed setting, famous university and a line-up of wineries that reads like a who’s who of the South African industry, Stellenbosch is one of the...
‘Hello, sir, and welcome to the Chardonnay country club.’ I’ve heard some silly things in my time, but naming a Napa Valley golf and tennis complex after a grape variety...
If patience is a virtue, as the old saw would have it, then it’s a virtue that’s deeply unfashionable. We live in a world dominated by immediacy, instant gratification, attention...
The legendary jazzman and humorist Ronnie Scott once introduced a concert at his London club with the following words: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, the last time this person played in London,...
New York crushes wine. This metropolis loves great wine lists. And, we want to enjoy them with excellent food and good service. So, this year’s “Best List” takes into account...
The first time I visited the Barossa Valley in South Australia, someone gave me a cassette. (It was so long ago, that iTunes didn’t exist.) The music was a collection...
Bordeaux is the world’s most famous fine wine region. Other areas may be more beautiful, more historic or blessed with better food, but Bordeaux is home to the greatest percentage...
The Napa Valley is the most famous wine region in the Americas and arguably in the entire New World – think Bordeaux crossed with the Hollywood Hills and more than...
Burgundy is a paradoxical place. The apparent contradiction is that it is both one of the simplest and most complex wine regions on earth. The easy part is that almost...