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...
Just Another Luxury Product?
The Weight Of Wine
What constitutes high alcohol now? In table wines, I mean; fortifieds haven’t changed. But I recall the horror when reds started hitting 14%. Then 14.5%. And now? 14% seems quite...
A Classic In The Making?
After the excessive heat of 2022, the vintage 2023 marks a return to normality for Bordeaux. Had this vintage happened 30, or even 20, years ago, it would have gone...
Can AI Break The Mystique Of...
Another day, another outlandish claim about how Artificial Intelligence (AI) will transform our lives. Last week the BBC News website claimed breathlessly that “AI… is now increasingly helping people buy...
Don’t Over Think It, Just Drink...
My mum is a gardener and sometimes works with a friend and fellow gardener called Don who takes care of hard landscaping, hedges and tree felling. As you’d expect given...
Beards, wine and biodynamism
Pierre Weindel of Domaine de la Tour des Vidaux I was keeping my eyes out for deer’s bladders in the rafters or even the odd cow horn, but it was...
Back to the future
Fine wines are timeless – that elusive combination of elegance, complexity and gravitas, plus ageing potential in spades. Their prices unfortunately are not. Top rank Bordeaux, Burgundy or mature Barolos...
A Sensorial Symphony
Vibrant. Rich. Exciting. Layered. Powerful. Complex. These words describe the third movement of Johannes Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D Major. They also describe a vintage Champagne of excellent quality. In...
Anosmia Dogs and other failed Master...
One of the requirements for becoming a Master of Wine is an original and rigorous research paper of between 6,000 and 10,000 words. The words must be placed in sentences,...
