Wine
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…
A novel approach to New Zealand’s wine
The last Saturday of lockdown — inshallah — and we were discussing literature. Specifically, when does a detective story become…
I’ve swapped booze for Pot Noodles
Along with many other people, I gave up drinking for the month of January and then resumed with gusto on…
My thrilling rendezvous with the sausage lady
One day last week we did a wine run up to Manosque in the foothills of the Alps, leaving early…
Nights – and wines – to remember in Paris
Some friends claim to be making marks on the wall to count the days until liberation. Ah, the forgotten delights…
Memories of Stellenbosch and South Africa’s finest wines
Lockdown provides time to think, and to reminisce. A South African friend, trapped in Amsterdam, phoned the other day. Had…
Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder
The wine has been flowing in the Young household this week. The reason I’ve been celebrating is because I managed…
My palate and the plague
Later this week, on Spectator.co.uk, I will resolve a mystery that has featured in a lot of Zoom traffic around…
How Argentina conquered Malbec
When Napoleon III proclaimed himself Emperor of France in 1852, he unwittingly kickstarted quality wine production in Chile and Argentina.…
Lockdown means it’s time to drink your most prized bottles of wine
Losing your sense of smell due to Covid is no joke when you make a living in food and wine.…
The beauty and tragedy of Lebanon
I was thinking about tragedy. Could one use the term ‘chronically tragic’? My first instinct is against. Tragedy is the…
Why you can’t trust supermarket cheese
We were celebrating the end of lockdown by talking about war and deer stalking — over a business lunch, naturally.…
Lockdown might bring the Dickensian Christmas back into fashion
I feel like a prisoner, making daily marks on the cell wall to chart the approach of freedom. But will…
Drinking to the glories of Burns and follies of Boris
At least in London, midwinter spring has not been entirely vanquished, and the trees are still a couple of strong…
A toast to Tim Beardson
I am in an Eliot mood, not a Keatsian one. ‘Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’ is a surprisingly… mellow…
Perry Worsthorne: a man incapable of dullness
I had known Perry Worsthorne for several years before I went to work for him in 1986 (horrifying how time…
The finest Rioja in all of Spain
It had been a long and no doubt fractious sea voyage. The crew would have signed up for a variety…
A perfect luncheon wine
I suspect, though this may be romanticising, that if a French lorry driver with hitherto suppressed culinary tastes won France’s…
The difference between American and French wine-drinkers
Is it safe to visit the continent? On the one hand, abroad is likely to be less crowded this August…
A lament for the foreign correspondent’s house – and his hospitality
Provence-Alpes-Côte D’Azur Until January the foreign correspondent lived in a late-18th-century house with a vineyard, olive grove and vegetable garden…
The hunt for a Test-class claret
In one respect, there has been a reassertion of normality, though this is nothing to do with the virus. Although…
The best wine since incarceration
The woodpecker jinked across the lawn like an especially cunning partridge. Its goal was a skilfully constructed bird table with…
Two bottles to help eradicate cabin fever
The virus is in retreat, the lock-down is crumbling, the sherbet dispensaries will shortly reopen and there is a second…
Bitter memories: my craving for a pint
It is enough to drive a man to drink. The most glorious weather, so suitable for white Burgundy on a…
The best New Zealand wine I’ve come across
I was once invited to the Cheltenham races and found the experience underwhelming. Everything was too respectable: not nearly Hibernian…
