Drink
What are the Queen’s favourite tipples?
Drinks at the palace The Queen was reported to have given up regular drinking. What do we know about her…
Is this Greece’s finest wine since Homer strummed his lyre?
We were in deepest Dorset, l’Angleterre profonde. The weather was also typically English: inundations followed by counter-attacks from the Indian…
The wonder of Lebanese wine
In the Levant, the grape has been cultivated for millennia, some of it used for wine. The hills of Lebanon…
The wine that made me change my mind about Valpolicella
There was a marvellous general of yesteryear called George Burns. He had a good war and a splendid peace. He…
The beauty of wine from the Rhine
In an apparently benign — almost prelapsarian — setting, the Rhine is an epitome of the human condition. Scenery is…
The wine that made me change my mind about rosé
Some time ago, I wrote that rosé should only be drunk south of Lyon, but one could start on the…
An unrewarding slog: Thomas Vinterberg's Another Round reviewed
Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round has been heaped with awards: an Oscar, a Bafta, it swept the European Film Awards. And…
A new take on New Zealand wine
‘The doors clap to, the pane is bright with showers.’ With ‘summer’ determined to do its worst, there is one…
How to drink in the delights of France (without leaving the country)
It is hard to decide which is more depressing, the extension of the lockdown or the public support for this…
The wine that links Thomas Jefferson, Charles II and Samuel Pepys
It seemed a suitable topic for a bank holiday. We were discussing Haut-Brion, a bank-breaking wine. There is a question…
My post-lockdown resolution: drink more Alsace
Freedom approaches. Should we be humming ‘Va, Pensiero’ or ‘O Welche Lust’ — perhaps both. Thinking of Fidelioreminds me of…
Wine by the jug in Venetian Venice
We were discussing travel, that forbidden delight now tantalisingly close. Where would be our first destination? Forswearing originality, I chose…
Drowning the sorrows of Scotland’s virulent nationalism
There is a more depressing subject than the lockdown. The evening began with a bottle of 18-year-old Glenmorangie. It was…
I’ve swapped booze for Pot Noodles
Along with many other people, I gave up drinking for the month of January and then resumed with gusto on…
Memories of Stellenbosch and South Africa’s finest wines
Lockdown provides time to think, and to reminisce. A South African friend, trapped in Amsterdam, phoned the other day. Had…
Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder
The wine has been flowing in the Young household this week. The reason I’ve been celebrating is because I managed…
My palate and the plague
Later this week, on Spectator.co.uk, I will resolve a mystery that has featured in a lot of Zoom traffic around…
How Argentina conquered Malbec
When Napoleon III proclaimed himself Emperor of France in 1852, he unwittingly kickstarted quality wine production in Chile and Argentina.…
Lockdown means it’s time to drink your most prized bottles of wine
Losing your sense of smell due to Covid is no joke when you make a living in food and wine.…
Food to absorb alcohol: Christmas hampers reviewed
There is straw inside the Fortnum & Mason Christmas Treat Hamper (£100). As the straw drifts through the house, it…
Lockdown might bring the Dickensian Christmas back into fashion
I feel like a prisoner, making daily marks on the cell wall to chart the approach of freedom. But will…
Drinking to the glories of Burns and follies of Boris
At least in London, midwinter spring has not been entirely vanquished, and the trees are still a couple of strong…
Wishful drinking: pubs have always been good at bending the rules
Pubs have always been good at bending the rules
The finest Rioja in all of Spain
It had been a long and no doubt fractious sea voyage. The crew would have signed up for a variety…
The hunt for a Test-class claret
In one respect, there has been a reassertion of normality, though this is nothing to do with the virus. Although…
