Archive

It is well known that Oscar Wilde was an epicurean of the highest order. Did he not aver that chefs were only lying in the gutter looking up at the…

It had to happen and so it did. In the wake of the hugely successful Cloudy Bay locator, Les Caves de Pyrène, an insignificant company based in Guildford, has teamed…

Thoughts on note taking and wine writing Tasting notes may be the reconstruction of objective analysis (given the limitations of objectivity), or they may be intended to capture the spirit…

“I dislike arguments of any kind. They are always vulgar, and often convincing.” --Oscar Wilde There are various classes of people who emerge from the wormy woodwork when the subject…

Labels may provide useful information or gobbledegook. As those ruminatively munching their impeccably-labelled Shergar-burgers will be aware, they may be an accurate guide to what you are consuming - or…

The hoary chestnut roasting on today’s open fire is the thorny thicket of labelling. Part of me fantasises about serving the überinterventionist winemaker with the lengthiest of self-inflicted writs –that…

"The butler returned with a huge album bound in crocodile leather. You are looking at the binding, I notice, said the host. It is the skin of a crocodile I…

The Nature of Wine Tasting Many dozens of books have fully explored the mechanics of taste, its fixities and definites, and there are numerous systems to codify or judge these.…

Q & A on Les Caves’ “Fighting Wines” Tasting Everywhere I hear the sound of marching, charging feet, boy Cause summers here and the time is right for fighting in…

Phile under Pinot I’m sure Pinot’s musky quality directly stimulates the part of the brain that processes sensuality yet I've had more unfulfilling encounters with this grape than I care…