Wine
Think pink: there’s no shame in quaffing rosé in England
In the battle of ideas, it is sometimes necessary to make a tactical withdrawal. That is now the case over…
My memorable night at the Carlton Club
‘Club’ is a four-letter word. Whenever a club is mentioned in the press, it will inevitably be portrayed as a…
A voyage through fine wine off Sardinia
One could get used to this. I come from seafaring stock, albeit distant. ‘Anderson’ suggests Viking antecedents, especially as my…
My approach to wine? Wishful drinking
I fancy myself as a bit of an oenophile and during the lockdowns, when my local branch of Majestic was…
The perfect pairing of books and wine
In the West End of London there is an alley which insinuates its way between the Charing Cross Road and…
A taste of la dolce vita in Tuscany
Amid the grandeur of old Edinburgh, in the lee of the castle, is one of the finest buildings in Scotland:…
The wine of the Wild Geese
The Irish rarely understate their achievements. Yet there is one exception. Over the centuries, the links between Catholic Ireland and…
War, wine and the brilliance of Beychevelle
If only toasts and good wishes were weapons of war. At every serious repast I have attended since the invasion…
The story of Tuscany’s all-female winery
The inhabitants of Tuscany and Umbria can claim to be the most civilised beings on the planet, even exceeding the…
A toast to Victorian Britain
Across oceans and continents, less favoured nations produce more history than they can consume. In these islands, the English —…
Why Sardinian wine is one to watch
The larger islands of the Mediterranean all have their glories. Fought over for millennia, they now seem to have attained…
The promise of South Africa
‘Earth has not anything to show more fair.’ One can admire the view from Westminster Bridge and feel near the…
Is it worth gambling on supermarket wine bargains?
Rich men often look out for bargains. I suppose that is why they are rich. But there can be problems.…
Vega Sicilia: the best Spanish wine I have ever tasted
Four hundred and fifty years ago this month, a great victory helped to safeguard European civilisation. The battle of Lepanto…
Is this Greece’s finest wine since Homer strummed his lyre?
We were in deepest Dorset, l’Angleterre profonde. The weather was also typically English: inundations followed by counter-attacks from the Indian…
The wonder of Lebanese wine
In the Levant, the grape has been cultivated for millennia, some of it used for wine. The hills of Lebanon…
Spain vs Italy: who would win the wine Test?
In London, the weather is a gentle sashaying mockery. An Indian summer reminds us of the sullen apology of summer…
The wine that made me change my mind about Valpolicella
There was a marvellous general of yesteryear called George Burns. He had a good war and a splendid peace. He…
The true cost of my week in Wales
Rather miraculously, my daughter managed to leave the country last week to go on holiday with a group of friends.…
The beauty of wine from the Rhine
In an apparently benign — almost prelapsarian — setting, the Rhine is an epitome of the human condition. Scenery is…
The wine that made me change my mind about rosé
Some time ago, I wrote that rosé should only be drunk south of Lyon, but one could start on the…
A new take on New Zealand wine
‘The doors clap to, the pane is bright with showers.’ With ‘summer’ determined to do its worst, there is one…
How to drink in the delights of France (without leaving the country)
It is hard to decide which is more depressing, the extension of the lockdown or the public support for this…
The wine that links Thomas Jefferson, Charles II and Samuel Pepys
It seemed a suitable topic for a bank holiday. We were discussing Haut-Brion, a bank-breaking wine. There is a question…
A taste inquisition on Stink Street
Walking up through the Stink Street medieval arch with a bag of shopping, I spotted Michael between the oleander branches…