Don't quote me

See also Tamlyn‘s tasting notes from a 10th anniversary tasting of wines from The WineBarn. In the tiny, picturesque Hampshire village of Dummer (home to the likes of Prince Andrew’s ex, Sarah Ferguson, and ‘It girl’ Tara Palmer-Tomkinson), and down a narrow lane flanked. More...

I’ve just hosted wine dinners on consecutive nights in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing designed to publicise the forthcoming mainland Chinese edition of The World Atlas of Wine . Wine importer ASC, long a champion of wine education and recently sold to Suntory of Japan, has been closely. More...

Here's how to feel important. Go to Yamanashi prefecture in Japan, where 95% of all Japanese Koshu grapes are grown. Taste a few of them. Then go to a press conference of local journalists who want to know what you think of Japan's most obvious signature grape variety. See below (and revisit. More...

Phil Laffer, chief winemaker of Jacob’s Creek et al , is a bit gloomy. Not only does he put his heart and soul into making the best wine he possibly can, only to see it being discounted like crazy in the mass market, but he feels the reputation of Australian wine is being tarnished by bulk wine. More...

Spare a thought for the visitors to the current Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Not only is there a serious shortage of snow, but you could say that there is also a serious shortage of Canadian wine in the official Olympic wine. The dominant Canadian wine company. More...

The admirable Tim Hanni MW of the Napa Valley has been rattling our cages recently – not least by building on his researches into how different all our palates and preferences are. See, for example, his activities and findings at the Masters of Wine Napa Valley Symposium back in 2006 and then,. More...

I don’t know, you go for days and days without much happening and then come a great welter of stories of interest all at once – just like the well-known herd instinct of the 73 bus? There’s a useful overview  here  of the long-rumbling saga of the multinational Diageo ’s. More...

The 'news' that Nyetimber, an English sparkling wine, had supposedly beaten Champagne Bollinger in a blind tasting organised in Italy, was picked up by the British wine media, and consequently reported on, as in this article on decanter.com at the end of last week. [I was asked by The. More...

I had breakfast with the French Minister of Agriculture yesterday, the way you do. Actually, it was a breakfast meeting – subtle difference – arranged by the indefatigable Parisian wine PR man Jean-Pierre Tuil to chime with his annual presentation of awards to members of the press by the. More...

Well I trod the boards for the first time since I was 17 last Saturday night - for about 10 steps. Fortunately I had no script to remember and was required only to half-recognise Hugh Johnson and his bottle of Royal Tokaji as a drunken waiter and to be escorted in to Vinderella 's ball, mistaken. More...