Drink

Clarets to see in the summer

2 May 2020 9:00 am

This April was indeed the cruellest month, at least for those of us banged up in cities. From the country…

I’m drinking half as much as usual – with no ill-effects

18 April 2020 9:00 am

I cannot remember a prettier Easter, or a more frustrating one. This was no time to be in town. But…

Drinking in isolation is far less appealing

4 April 2020 9:00 am

Spring sense, caressing sunshine: last week, London enjoyed village cricket weather. Even in normal circumstances, the season would not have…

If we can’t go to the Veneto, we’ll drink to it

21 March 2020 9:00 am

We live in a world where yesterday’s inconceivable becomes today’s commonplace, but even so. I never thought that the day…

The Spanish winemakers with a missionary zeal

7 March 2020 9:00 am

It is time to begin with an apology, and hope. In the course of these columns, I have already admitted…

Which water goes best with whisky?

21 February 2020 10:00 pm

Peaty water ought to be classed as a luxury. You have spent a day on the hill, a’chasing the deer.…

How gin escaped from Gin Lane

7 February 2020 10:00 pm

In the mid-18th century, London was awash with gin. Socially-conscious members of the bourgeoisie believed that this was the root…

A toast to Roger Scruton

24 January 2020 10:00 pm

In clubs and other admirable locations throughout the civilised world, glasses have been raised and toasts proposed. But this was…

My recipe to cure a hangover

11 January 2020 9:00 am

Journalists exaggerate, often reaching for superlatives to chronicle mildly interesting events. Even so, there are times when it is necessary…

Christmas without God in the Appalachians

21 December 2019 9:00 am

Christmas: without being grand and Proustian, this is a season when time present inevitably takes one back to time past.…

Politics of a certain vintage – and wine to match

7 December 2019 9:00 am

I wonder how they do things now at Tory headquarters. For the ’79 election, the preparations had been completed weeks…

Wine that puts politics in its place

23 November 2019 9:00 am

In the era of vinyl, lost in one of Bruckner’s longueurs, it could be hard to tell what was stuck,…

The delights of Spanish wine – and art

9 November 2019 9:00 am

First, an apology. In my last column, I appeared to be saying that good champagne does not age. This must…

The finest champagnes do not age

26 October 2019 9:00 am

The other night, I dreamt about Brexit. Awakening to the oppression of an urgent task, it took me a few…

A vintage tale of Thatcher, Reagan and some truly great wines

12 October 2019 9:00 am

Poor Old Girl. The final act may not have been sanglante, but as the third volume of Charles Moore’s life…

There is always time for a bottle of Champagne

28 September 2019 9:00 am

My friend Dominic decided that it was time to convoke a lunch. There were matters to discuss, including that perennial…

Claret, dogs and nothing to grouse about

14 September 2019 9:00 am

What do you get if you cross a dyslexic, an insomniac and an agnostic? Someone who wakes up at 4…

Reasons to be cheerful: gardens, Ben Stokes and cold wine

31 August 2019 9:00 am

‘The Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.’ Is there a more charming passage in…

Like Team Boris, I’m staying in London this summer

17 August 2019 9:00 am

Foolish me. I could have been writing this by the shore of Lake Trasimene, with only one problem: how to…

A wine of Boris’s vintage

3 August 2019 9:00 am

My host twinkled sardonically. ‘We’re bound to be discussing Boris. So what’s the right wine?’ I suggested a bunker-busting Australian…

The tastes of summer: polo, Pimm’s and plenty of Champagne

20 July 2019 9:00 am

England. On a glorious summer afternoon in the Sussex countryside, I had been invited to watch polo at Cowdray Park,…

A toast to the wisdom – and wit – of Norman Stone

6 July 2019 9:00 am

We were in a club, discussing Norman Stone, recently departed, over a meal that he would have enjoyed. Norman divided…

Ian Botham’s Ozzie Chardonnay is too good for the convicts

22 June 2019 9:00 am

Cricket is the most gracious of games. County grounds in the lee of cathedrals, village greens in the perfect setting…

In an era of illusion and fantasy, let the wine do the talking

8 June 2019 9:00 am

We had all said everything there was to say about Brexit a hundred times over. So the conversation took different…

Debunking the Greek wine myth

25 May 2019 9:00 am

A book, a bottle, a bower set in an ancient garden: you think that if you walked round the right…