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If I mention Bordeaux, it would be understandable if your first thoughts were “too expensive and too complicated”. In reality, this land of historic villages, ancient Roman churches and over 6,000 chateau properties is now offering many very good va...

Harvard professor Steven Pinker is famously known for saying that music is auditory cheesecake for the mind. I hope he will not be offended if I suggest that wine works similarly for olfactory and taste. I am sure that the reasoning behind his remar...

Happy Shakespeare’s birthday. I only know this as it also the day that my last-born son chose to enter this world. So that makes tomorrow, April 24, International Sauvignon Blanc Day. But before we get to that I wish to share some sad and unfortuna...

As I usually do on a Monday morning, I have selected a few CDs, cranked up the stereo and now am doing my best to write some interesting stories about wine. Tomorrow is very special as it is the annual World Malbec Day. Sadly, our little island has c...

As I write this on Monday morning the memory of the wine that we opened last night, because it was Easter, is just so fresh. Now that a few of our words are included in the latest printing of the Oxford English Dictionary I feel that I can safely s...

Not knowing what in the world to expect I have just stocked up on groceries and included a ham that we will certainly have over the Easter weekend. I confess to not having made a double-headstick “roundy”, as I did for much of my life, but I have s...

Spring has sprung, the days are longer and wine requirements are changing. It is time for the latest vintage of a classic favourite and we have 2019 Chateau D’Esclans Whispering Angel Rosé. Created by Sacha Lichine following his acquisition of Châte...

At the end of last summer Forbes magazine ran an article on popular pandemic wines based on statistics from a home delivery service called Minibar Delivery. In the top ten, over half were wines that we import: Oyster Bay sauvignon blanc, Whispering...

Before I tell you about some our most popular wines that are thankfully now back in stock, I had better take care of International Riesling Day, as it is celebrated tomorrow. 2018 Dr Loosen Dr L Riesling is a textbook introduction to the deliciou...

Last week I featured Italian wines for the supporters of Luna Rossa as it challenges New Zealand for the world’s oldest sports trophy, the 1851 America’s Cup. Even though New Zealand has done a remarkable job of controlling Covid-19 it has now shut...

Computerised machines flying at speeds exceeding 50 miles per hour – certainly nothing I envisioned during my 40 years of racing sailing vessels. Starting on March 6, for only the third time since 1851, we will watch a boat from Europe as it challen...

On January 29 I wrote of the vintage chart for Bordeaux, an area where the Romans found vines growing when they arrived some 2,000 years ago. I then said how between 1959 and 2016 there were only two years that rated 99/100: 2000 and 2016. “2005 and ...