Italy does quite well for wine guides but some of them are pretty unwieldy. Gambero Rosso’s Italian wines , for example, well known for its tre bicchiere (three glasses) awards,...

Believe it or not, the wine range at the decidedly downmarket ASDA supermarket chain, now owned by Walmart, has been revitalised by a Francophile Master of Wine. Philippa Carr MW admits that she...

Below is a funny little film of the main reception room at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti which I took while waiting for co-owner Aubert de Villaine (pictured here avec reflections). I saw that...

The UK news last night and this morning has been dominated by the Chancellor's pre-budget report to the House of Commons. In addition to a range of tax changes, all intended to get people...

Over the first eight months of 2008, international exports of French wine decreased by 10% in volume, so perhaps it's good news that the French ministry of agriculture is forecasting a...

London wine merchant Swig , who sell 'artisan wines from around the world', has invited purple pagers to a walk-around tasting of '30 very special Italian wines' selected from the Best 100 Wines...

The lowest number of barrels in 21 years went on sale at the Hospices de Beaune auction yesterday and prices for red wines were dramatically lower than last year. This year's total of...

The reason I made my very first trip to Australia and was able to write my recent report on the Limestone Coast and its challenges was to act as the overseas judge in the recent  Limestone...

“Who will buy my sweet red grapes?”, as the rose seller in the musical version of Oliver Twist   nearly said. This is becoming a serious concern not just for Australia’s...

Part one of this report gave an overview of the Hong Kong wine market. This part takes a closer look at what the duty cut really means in turning the city into a fine wine hub. The...

Every year, Spanish wine writer José Peñîn and his team taste more than 8,000 wines to produce their annual wine guide, the Guia Peñín . For the second year running, I went to Madrid to...

I hear it was snowing in London last week. Well it wasn’t a great deal warmer in Sydney the week before that on my first-ever trip to Australia. In fact, it was the coldest October day for 30...

We start a series of tasting notes on the three great fortified wines with Julia on port. With such great variety – from fresh, delicate tawny and colheita ports to rich, sweet,...

For me the sweetest smell in recent memory is that of cheese straws through floorboards. I was in the basement of a house in Islington, North London, one of a dozen tasters rating anonymous...

The wines described below were tasted over two days at the end of September at Quinta do Noval with Christian Seely , thanks to a long anticipated and wholeheartedly enjoyed prize ....