You may know Savoie for its skiing, but this part of the French Alps is now producing wines to match its stunning scenery and top-notch foodDraw a line on the map from Geneva to Chambéry 50 miles to the south and you mark the eastern boundary of a reg…
Despite what traditionalists say, it looks like the cork has had its day”It would be very useful to know when a wine is ‘corked’ – what to look out for, and when to send it back in a restaurant,” wrote one reader recently.Well, it’s not alw…
Yes, we all know fizz is de rigueur, but what if the budget won’t stretch to limitless vats of bubbly?One question I often get asked is what wine to drink for a wedding. Champagne, and lots of it, might be the first response that comes to mind, but wha…
Three less well-known European wines to stretch your palateTesco Finest Gavi, Piedmont, Italy 2011 (£7.98, Tesco) Forced to choose an own-label Italian white, I’d almost always go for Piedmont’s Gavi, which most supermarkets now stock, over a run…
‘I’m sure the habitual pinot grigio drinker would be perfectly happy with a falanghina’From the lists of supermarket promotions I get every month, you’d think the British drank only four or five wines: pinot grigio, sauvignon blanc and the occasio…
Do you need to change your glass depending on what you’re drinking?It doesn’t seem long ago that merely owning wine glasses was enough to mark one out as a sophisticate of the highest order. Such affectations were for professional establishments like t…
From beer and cider to gin and sparkling wine, the English drinks industry makes products to match the best in the worldI’m not a great one for flag-waving, but there’s no escaping the fact that we’re heading for a robustly British summer, starting on …
Three wines, including a cava, to toast the warmer weatherCamillo de Lellis Biferno Rosso Riserva, Molise, Italy 2007 (from £7.25, thewinesociety.com; greatwesternwine.co.uk; butlers-winecellar.co.uk) A bottle of this longstanding favourite of mine ad…
When you want to learn about the wine of any region, it usually pays to check out your local wine merchant or independent firstOne of the best ways to explore the wine world is to concentrate on a particular country or wine region for a …
Egg-based recipes have a bad rep as being hard to match with wine, but the problem is over-ratedI guess there’s a fair chance you’re going to be eating eggs this weekend but what – apart from a cuppa – do you drink with them? Eggs are held to …
Easter is a time when the supermarkets tend to come up with some tempting offers. Here are some of the best out there…Unless you’re the kind of wine drinker who has their favourites and sticks to them year in, year out, the end of March marks th…
It’s one of the most reliable of wines – you rarely come across a bad bottle – but with those floral, fruity tones, what on Earth can you eat with it?Having had years of Delia and Nigella sending products flying off the shelves, it now looks a…
The island of Mazzorbo, a ferry ride from the centre of Venice, is a world away from the crowds of St Mark’sIndulging yourself in Venice normally means checking into one of the Serenissima’s famed luxury hotels – the exclusive Cipriani or majestic Da…
Alcohol level is the single most important issue for many wine consumers, and producers are starting to take note big-timeThe big wine story so far this year is turning out to be not prices but alcohol levels. According to recent research conducted for…
Do the terms winewriters use to describe a wine really give consumers an idea of its flavour, or just confuse the issue?A couple of weeks ago, a link was passed around on Twitter to a random wine review generator that came up with spoof descriptions su…
This is a cheat’s version of the traditional soup. Thick, comforting and ready in no timeThis is a great, thick stew of a soup that is cheap to make, filling and tasty. In the traditional recipe, you would use the scrag-end of neck or breast …
The Mayfair wine merchant, family run since 1698, is a venerable model for ‘non-predatory’ capitalism to followSquint through the elegant arched windows of Berry Bros & Rudd’s famous store in London and you half-expect to see sombre clerks using quills…
There’s a commemorative day for just about everything these days, but Carignan Day? Are they serious? Well, yes, actually…Barely a week goes by without some commemorative day or week to celebrate, and now is no exception: Fairtrade Fortnight starts&n…
Pink champagne may seem the romantic gesture, especially on Valentine’s Day, but does it really justify the additional expense?I was banging on the other day about the ludicrous cost of a £95 Valentine’s gift box of pink champagne when I stopped to as…
Pre-paying for wine – or en primeur – may seem an attractive option, not least to fend off potential price rises. But is it always such a good idea?The idea of spending less on wine if you pay for it up front – known in the trade as buy…
That bottle you’ve been saving for a special occasion may well be better off being drunk nowUnless you’re one of those people who drink every bottle of wine they buy within 24 hours, the chances are that you’ve got a few older bottles knockin…
Like Aussie chardonnay, the country’s shiraz has something of an image problem. But a new breed of winemaker is now looking to change thatLast week I took a look at Australian chardonnay. This week, in the second part of my update on the Aussie wine sc…
Yes, it’s been a bit of a joke wine for years, but the new generation of Aussie chardonnays really hit the spotWould you take a bottle of Australian chardonnay to dinner with friends? My guess is many wouldn’t – a friend recently told me it must…
