Some kids get the itch to become astronauts but when I’m grown up I want to be Harry Lester. Once I am I’ll open my perfect little bistro. A tear-the-paper-off-the-table, stoneware carafe and colourful brocante-deco affair, doesn’t matter where so long as it’s hard to get to, oh – and in France. I will dress
What winemakers do in winter
The Ardèche isn’t just about saving dish water for the garden and sleeping out the heat. There’s also the time of year you butcher the pigs that keep the vendangers fed during harvest. Namely January. Casse-croûte was at 10, the breaking and dipping of bread into last year’s bacon, boudin and dark-ochre eggs still crackling
Auberge de Chassignolles, my Hotel California in the Auvergne
Hannah’s further adventures off the beaten-track in South-Eastern France, as she’s abandoned in a hot, sticky Ardeche but reminisces about the perfect lunch
Molto Forte biodynamics, mezzo-forte wine
Wineries can soak up a lot of money – as per the popular industry joke “How do you make a million in wine? Answer: Start with two million”. The landscape is littered with vinous vanity projects created by wealthy industrialists, downsizing media tycoons or hollywood stars who can afford to blow fortunes on pipe dreams.
The Ottolenghi battle, or what to do when your business burns down
Allard Arisz is definitely a glass half full character. After 16 years in the wine distribution business, his Amsterdam North warehouse burnt down on March 7th this year. Some 30,000 bottles of wine were destroyed in the blaze, representing most of the company’s stock. Some might take that as a sign, time to shut up
Seafood Grillo, Barraco style
It’s a gorgeous late summer evening on Sicily’s west coast. But instead of admiring the sea, our group of wine writers and bloggers are looking slightly perplexedly at what appears to be a patch of weeds. Actually this is Antonino “Nino” Barraco‘s prized hectare of coastal Grillo, practically growing on the beach and preciously handed
Graves doesn’t have to be serious
Who doesn’t love a joyful, everyday wine – especially if it’s fairly priced Bordeaux. There’s an unfortunate view, particularly prevalent in the UK, that Bordeaux wines fall into only two categories – those sold at super-premium prices for the obscenely rich, and those that are little more than execrable filth. The truth is that there are many
Oh Balls! (Or how customer service saved the day)
Picture the scene – four old friends, and we’ve just passed a convivial evening in a restaurant. It’s Thursday night, 9.30pm, no-one’s ready to go home but at the same time a change of scenery is called for. Oh yes, and we’d like good wine please. The trouble is, we’re in Victoria. A quick look on
The veritas crudo of prosciutto
I rarely write about food on this blog – that’s not due to a lack of interest, but rather just a matter of focus – this is a wine blog, after all. But following a recent trip to San Daniele di Friuli, to sample wines and enjoy the famed local prosciutto, I felt compelled to
Sherry Maestro No.22
Sherry seems to be going through a mini-renaissance right now, after decades of being banished to the backwater of granny’s christmas cupboard. It is after all one of the few real bargains of the wine world – complex, characterful, consistent and often aged for a decade or more, yet entry level examples in most styles