This week, my top three tips for getting more enjoyment out of wine. One of the first things rookie wine writers feel obliged to do is to point out that the e9 bottle you are drinking only contains 37 cents worth of wine. I wish they wouldn’t. Nothing’s more certain to sunder the harmonious marriage ...
Wine & DrinkWhen I started this column I cautioned against over-emotive language. Well, now for a grape that’s inspired more exuberant metaphors than you’d find in the complete works of James Joyce. Wine writers laud it to the skies. In Burgundy, where it first gained fame, vignerons also lavish choice epithets on pinot noir. Among other things, ...
Tasting NotesThe ‘Havana’ thread on Amuse bouche, which devolved into a discussion of Portuguese food, inspired me to put up this recipe, which I sometimes also cook with mussels. Good rib-sticking stuff! It’s a good exercise to write down your favourite recipes from time to time, helps you analyse what you actually do and see if ...
RecipesFound this song I wrote in 2004 on my South African trip – with the help of Cole Porter – in the back pages I was gonna dump. Thought it should be preserved for, well, if not quite posterity, a bit longer. Had to put it somewhere, so it’s here. LET’S DO IT, LET’S FALL ...
Wine & DrinkToday’s wine drinkers are obsessed with grape varieties. Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, etc, get picked over like flavours in a box of chocs. In contrast, I’ve just been re-reading Raymond Postgate’s ‘A Plain Man’s Guide to Wine’ first published in 1953. Mentions of grape varieties are virtually non-existent. I suspect Plan Man didn’t care, he just ...
Tasting NotesKipper ties, two-tone shirts, baggy trousers, cowboy boots, where are they now? Amazing how fast fashion changes. Here’s UK wine writer Suzy Atkins in 2003 – “I can’t think of anything more fashionable in the world of wine than merlot.” She goes on to chirrup about the grape being “hip and happening”. A year later, ...
Tasting Notes