The Wehlener Sonnenuhr is one of the Mosel’s most famous vineyards and its spoils are shared by a number of outstanding producers. What unites many of the top sites along the river is also...

As a recent newcomer to London, one of my favourite weekend quests involves finding local wine retailers with interesting selections and decent prices. Not exactly a mission...

It seems only a moment ago that Tesco, Britain’s dominant supermarket, were moving firmly upmarket with a dramatically increased finer wine range (see Tesco – speccing up a bit? ). And it...

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 pleasure of being back in Ballymaloe House, 30 miles south-east of Cork in southern Ireland, after 27 years was accentuated when Darina Allen pointed to my place at the dinner table and said,...

Just as the Australian wine industry battles to demonstrate that it can do more than churn out inexpensive, technically perfect, fast-fade Shiraz and Chardonnay from its rapidly dessicating...

See related thread in Members' forum   In this collection of 77 wines offered this autumn by Sainsbury’s, one of Britain’s biggest supermarket chains locked in mortal combat with the...

How, faced with the array of bottles in a wine store, do you pick the right one off the shelf? Here are few random but specific suggestions:   Decide on a...

See also my tasting notes on 169 Alsace 2007s. It is perhaps not surprising that French wine producers have been much slower to embrace screwcaps as an alternative stopper to natural...

German wine specialist Michael Schmidt very kindly offered to share with us his tasting notes taken at the official launch of the top German wines of the 2007 vintage in Wiesbaden at the end of...

In a nutshell : The home of port, madeira and a host of increasingly modern, often bargain, table wines. Grapes : Rich variety of local specialities. Portugal's advantage in...

Before wrestling with the cork or other stopper , the wine drinker encounters another illogical barrier to wine enjoyment, the often impenetrable foil or capsule that covers the cork. An...

The world's wine producers spend a lot of time asking themselves and each other how to persuade more people to drink wine. And yet they continue to sell the vast majority of their production in...

  Factors affecting wine over time   Once it is firmly stoppered in a bottle, wine should be protected from it greatest enemy, the oxygen in the air. If, however,...

At this time of year all over northern Europe, bottles carefully brought home from southern Europe have traditionally been opened in a fever of anticipation. But those who expect their treasured...