Wine

Think pink: there’s no shame in quaffing rosé in England

23 July 2022 9:00 am

In the battle of ideas, it is sometimes necessary to make a tactical withdrawal. That is now the case over…

My memorable night at the Carlton Club

9 July 2022 9:00 am

‘Club’ is a four-letter word. Whenever a club is mentioned in the press, it will inevitably be portrayed as a…

A voyage through fine wine off Sardinia

25 June 2022 9:00 am

One could get used to this. I come from seafaring stock, albeit distant. ‘Anderson’ suggests Viking antecedents, especially as my…

My approach to wine? Wishful drinking

4 June 2022 9:00 am

I fancy myself as a bit of an oenophile and during the lockdowns, when my local branch of Majestic was…

The perfect pairing of books and wine

28 May 2022 9:00 am

In the West End of London there is an alley which insinuates its way between the Charing Cross Road and…

A taste of la dolce vita in Tuscany

30 April 2022 9:00 am

Amid the grandeur of old Edinburgh, in the lee of the castle, is one of the finest buildings in Scotland:…

The wine of the Wild Geese

16 April 2022 9:00 am

The Irish rarely understate their achievements. Yet there is one exception. Over the centuries, the links between Catholic Ireland and…

War, wine and the brilliance of Beychevelle

2 April 2022 9:00 am

If only toasts and good wishes were weapons of war. At every serious repast I have attended since the invasion…

The story of Tuscany’s all-female winery

5 March 2022 9:00 am

The inhabitants of Tuscany and Umbria can claim to be the most civilised beings on the planet, even exceeding the…

A toast to Victorian Britain

19 February 2022 9:00 am

Across oceans and continents, less favoured nations produce more history than they can consume. In these islands, the English —…

Why Sardinian wine is one to watch

5 February 2022 9:00 am

The larger islands of the Mediterranean all have their glories. Fought over for millennia, they now seem to have attained…

The promise of South Africa

18 December 2021 9:00 am

‘Earth has not anything to show more fair.’ One can admire the view from Westminster Bridge and feel near the…

Is it worth gambling on supermarket wine bargains?

6 November 2021 9:00 am

Rich men often look out for bargains. I suppose that is why they are rich. But there can be problems.…

Vega Sicilia: the best Spanish wine I have ever tasted

23 October 2021 9:00 am

Four hundred and fifty years ago this month, a great victory helped to safeguard European civilisation. The battle of Lepanto…

Is this Greece’s finest wine since Homer strummed his lyre?

9 October 2021 9:00 am

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

25 September 2021 9:00 am

In the Levant, the grape has been cultivated for millennia, some of it used for wine. The hills of Lebanon…

Spain vs Italy: who would win the wine Test?

11 September 2021 9:00 am

In London, the weather is a gentle sashaying mockery. An Indian summer reminds us of the sullen apology of summer…

The wine that made me change my mind about Valpolicella

14 August 2021 9:00 am

There was a marvellous general of yesteryear called George Burns. He had a good war and a splendid peace. He…

The true cost of my week in Wales

31 July 2021 9:00 am

Rather miraculously, my daughter managed to leave the country last week to go on holiday with a group of friends.…

The beauty of wine from the Rhine

31 July 2021 9:00 am

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

17 July 2021 9:00 am

Some time ago, I wrote that rosé should only be drunk south of Lyon, but one could start on the…

A new take on New Zealand wine

3 July 2021 9:00 am

‘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)

19 June 2021 9:00 am

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

5 June 2021 9:00 am

It seemed a suitable topic for a bank holiday. We were discussing Haut-Brion, a bank-breaking wine. There is a question…

A taste inquisition on Stink Street

29 May 2021 9:00 am

Walking up through the Stink Street medieval arch with a bag of shopping, I spotted Michael between the oleander branches…