‘If you don’t believe in the Bordeaux Primeurs, or think the system is flawed, then don’t take part in it!! You can’t have it both ways. Nothing has changed about...
Choosing a white wine can be summed up in a single word: Don’t. People will tell you that white wine is every bit as interesting as red wine. These are...
Setting the price of en primeur Bordeaux has always been something of a poker game, but Château Pontet-Canet’s decision to release its 2013 at €60 ex-négociant, before almost anyone had...
When authors or publishers get to a certain age, roughly 37, they are issued with a shapeless blue linen jacket. They then fill the pockets with books, papers, tobacco and...
Imagine, if you will, two equally-skilled chef-restaurateurs whom we’ll call Jean-Paul and Jean-Jacques. J-P’s philosophy is simple: he makes the most out of locally-grown ingredients – even when they aren’t...
What’s the definition of a 100-point wine? Depending on who’s handing out the numbers, a cynic might say it’s something you can’t afford and don’t want to drink anyway, but...
If any man deserved the epithet, a legend in his own lunchtime, it was Keith Waterhouse. You probably remember him for his plays Billy Liar, made into a film with...
It was a stupendous amount of work. I knew that going into it, but, still, it was overwhelming. I persevered, spent countless hours studying and memorizing, and I’m proud to...
People have been writing about wine for as long as there has been wine, and nearly as poorly as they write about it today. It’s humbling to be part of...
Although certainly a fully revised and updated edition of Tom Stevenson’s standard reference work on Champagne and all things effervescent, this opus is more than that- it’s very much Essi...
With some big names in sparkling wine on five continents billed to speak at Denbies for this, the third and largest yet ISWS, the gathering mood was of course one...
You won’t be able to say I didn’t warn you. 2014 looks to be another strange year in the wine business. If you don’t believe my predictions, remember that I...