I write all too often about the detail of specific wines and all too rarely about the mechanics of how to serve and handle them. But at this time of year, when many of us are in entertaining...

For me, choosing the right wine to serve on a particular occasion is almost as thrilling as the wine itself - perverse as that may seem. It gives me real pleasure to feel that the bottle, or...

After being runner-up in the last two contests to be crowned best sommelier in the world, Paulo Basso of Conca Balla in Vacallo on the Swiss-Italian border won the keenly fought 2013 contest in...

Sommelier auction closes today! Bid  here We all know the problem any serious collector of anything experiences. The collection assumes a size and complexity way in excess of any...

What to give a wine lover? The obvious choice is of course our new book Wine Grapes , recently voted Best Book of 2012 and described by wine writer Stuart Pigott as 'the only important new...

The temperature, we were told, was set at precisely 20 ºC, but it felt peculiarly cooler than that as our party walked into the shadowy dining hall of an immaculate château in Reims. As we found...

30 Aug - See below for a response re the proliferation of red wine grapes in Nierstein. On Monday, Michael Schmidt and I sat side by side at your service on the first of this year's two-day...

For most wine fans, having the right glass is almost as important as having the right wine to go in it. Riedel is by far the most significant name in this field and rightfully so, since they...

For several very different reasons I recently accepted an invitation to be one of the five judges of the UK Sommelier of the Year 2011 Award. It was won by Frenchman Yohann Jousselin of The...

Since Nick is straying into my territory this week by writing about sommeliers , I thought I would venture into his to consider restaurant wine lists and the changing relationship between...

11 Jun - On the day of the announcement of an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours for Gérard I learned that although Laurent has indeed gone to Nottingham, Laura Rhys has decided to stay at...

It is a long way from a teetotal, non-meat-eating ashram in Florida to choosing wine for China's top government officials in Beijing but that is the path travelled by 31-year-old Krishna...

As you might imagine, my email Inbox has to be extremely capacious and robust (not least to accommodate invective associated with the vexed question of screwcaps ). A couple of recent emails...

7 Jan - See this interesting set of observations at winespectator.com on preserving the contents of open bottles of wine. The coalition currently governing the UK does something right....

Most of the year I write about what to serve and drink, but during this festive season I'd like to focus on what to serve and drink wine from. I have noticed that wine professionals...