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 organisation that looks after 55% of Bordeaux’s wine output, the wines that carry the lowly appellations Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur.
‘I’m absolutely counting on you’, said the emails of the week before to me and my fellow laureate, political journalist and Fronsac château owner Jean-Francis Pécresse of Les Echos, ‘to...