The wine diaries: Living the roaring 20s with Ramon Bilbao December 2, 2021 What a night was had at the celebratory launch of Ramon Bilbao’s The Journey Collection at glamorous Hispania. Throwing back to the joie de vivre of the 1920s, guests in varying degrees of vintage dress clinked crystal martini glasses in front of jazz singers before being swept up the turning staircase to a sumptuous candle-lit [...]
Wine Wednesday: Buy Burgundy – and buy it now! December 1, 2021 Burgundy has established a world-wide reputation for excellent quality, premium wines, despite the term being created as an Anglicised word for marketing purposes. In France the region and wines are ‘Bourgogne’ and there is a push among winemakers in the area to reclaim this original name. Whether you call it Burgundy or Bourgogne, however, if [...]
Maurizio Zanella: The man behind the rise of Franciacorta November 28, 2021 Franciacorta is a small but mighty Italian wine appellation currently making waves on the sparkling scene. Though wine has been produced here since the sixteenth century, Prosecco is the Italian sparkling wine that jumps more readily to the international mind. Franciacorta, however, is made via the traditional method and was the first region to gain [...]
Collectivino: The ethical wine company making it easy to drink good wine November 24, 2021 Sustainability is the current watch word in wine. As bottle weights and recyclability are increasingly discussed, companies must at least nod in an environmentally friendly direction or risk falling behind competitors. People are increasingly aware of the impact their choices make on the planet but buying ethical wine sustainably can be a tricky thing to [...]
Wine diary: My lunch with the Tom Selleck of the wine world November 17, 2021 Celebration was in the air at the first Winemakers Lunch in over two years. Hosted by Top Selection director Akos Forczek, it took place at the oenophile haven that is 67 Pall Mall’s private dining room. The guest of honour was Peter Mondavi Jr who, baring some resemblance to an even-more-twinkly Tom Selleck, took us [...]
Celebrating the women in wine November 16, 2021 Only five per cent of the Chef de Caves in Champagne are women and Caroline Latrive of Champagne AYALA is one. Wanting to do something about this disparity, she partnered with SquareMeal to support the Female Chef Of The Year Award, a similar industry where male chefs outnumber women at a rate of over four [...]
COP26: The wine industry joins the Race To Zero November 10, 2021 COP26 is well underway in Glasgow, bringing 197 countries together to present their updated plans to act against carbon emissions, and the wine industry has its own, albeit relatively small, part to play. Wine itself creates relatively low carbon emissions but even so the International Wineries for Climate Action (IWCA) exists. It was founded three [...]
A mouthful of cashmere: The joy of Lalande-de-Pomerol wines November 10, 2021 Traditionally wines from Bordeaux have garnered a certain high level of respect, esteem, fame and the price tag that goes along with that. In broad strokes, the Bordeaux Blend, historically referred to as Claret in the UK, is made up of a combination of the star players Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot alongside, at the winemaker’s [...]
The wine diaries: Dining out on oysters and fizz November 3, 2021 We are in Native Oyster season and there is no better place to enjoy them than iconic seafood restaurant, Bentley’s Oyster Bar & Grill. Situated on the cobbles of Swallow Street they have been serving the finest seafood to hungry Londoners for over 100 years. “You come here for the best seafood, the best oysters” [...]
British wine is flying high: Here are some of the best November 3, 2021 It is time to drink patriotically because business is booming for British wines. The pandemic did little to slow the growth; in fact wine sales went up by 30 per cent and last year we planted 1.4m new vines. This green, little island of ours now boasts around 800 vineyards and 178 wineries, though England [...]