burgundy
The Hundred Years War ends in England’s agonising defeat – but triumph for Jonathan Sumption
England’s final, agonising defeat in the Hundred Years War brings Jonathan Sumption’s monumental history to a close. David Crane salutes 43 years of research and writing
The beauty of a serious Burgundy
It was the English summer at its most perverse. We were drinking Pimm’s while hoping against hope for better news…
The paradox of Burgundy
I was trying to remember what I once knew about the theology of the Reformation and especially the various factions’…
Is the great vintage of 2015 retreating into itself
We were pondering the relationship between military history and wine vintages. It is extraordinary to think that the French managed…
Found in a friend’s cellar — the wines of a lifetime
In longevity, great wine can march with human life. Creating (better still, maintaining) a fine cellar really is a compact…
Glad tidings from a parish in Burgundy
Advent: I am sure that all readers deplore the vulgarly commercial aspects of the pre-Christmas season as much as I…
The wonders of white Burgundy
I promised a return to Burgundy and the 2014 vintage, which becomes no less impressive when recollected in tranquillity. We…
On the trail of a Burgundian Holy Grail
It was a scene evoking the first movement of the Pastoral Symphony. The evening sunshine was caressing the verdant woods…
The true France in a bottle
‘There lies the dearest freshness deep down things’ — and also the dearest Frenchness. It is easy to be rude…
My initiation into the fellowship of wine (I swallowed)
This month’s wine club lecture was on red burgundy. The members were settling themselves at two large tables when I…
The spirit of Prohibition lives (if you’re a haggis)
It is an old adage, but still pertinent. ‘Every generalisation about India is true, and so is the opposite.’ The…
The battling brilliance of Burgundy
There is only one answer to the question ‘Burgundy or claret?’ ‘Yes, but never in the same glass.’ Yet I…
Wine merchants might just be the happiest people in the world
A delightful girl came to see me this morning. She is helping with the research for a biography of David…
The secret kinship of good wine and good cricket
A high proportion of wine-lovers also enjoy cricket, and vice versa. This might seem natural. Anyone with an aesthetic temperament…
Visiting Burgundy from my hospital bed
There have been some splendid rumours about my health. According to the most exotic, I was cas-evacked from a hill…
Drink: The great white Burgundy disaster
We agreed that it was the gravest crisis facing mankind. It has led to dashed hopes, widespread grief and a…
When the Rothschilds waged a claret class war
Claret has a commercial advantage over Burgundy. Thanks to the grandes lignes of châteaux and vintages, you know where you…
Drink: the romance of fall
The fall: one of the few instances where American English is superior to English English. ‘Autumn’ has a comfortable charm,…
