Peace for Christmas 2025

Paul HowardArticles, Blog, Climate Emergency, Sustainability

What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Understanding?

Peace for Christmas 2025 An alternative Christmas Carol wishing you Peace for Christmas 2025   As I walk through this wicked world Searching for light in the darkness of insanity I ask myself, is all hope lost? Is there only pain and hatred and misery? And each time I feel like this inside There’s one thing I wanna know What’s …

Veneri – Sauvignon Blanc from Tenuta Liliana

Paul HowardArticles, Blog, Climate Emergency, Italy, Organic, Puglia, Regenerative, Sustainability

Veneri Bottle

Veneri – Sauvignon Blanc from Tenuta Liliana A recent article about Tenuta Liliana at Parabita in Puglia featured their flagship red wine, an organic Cabernet Sauvignon. This has risen, phoenix-like, from the remains of Olive Trees lost to the Xylella disease. So impressive was this wine that it’s only natural to follow this up with the Estate’s new Sauvignon Blanc, …

Mosnel Franciacorta Brut – their landmark 44th Edition

Paul HowardArticles, Blog, Climate Emergency, Italy, Lombardia, Organic, Sparkling Wine, Sustainability, Wine Business

Mosnel Villa and vineyards

Mosnel Franciacorta Brut – their landmark 44th Edition In 2016, it was an honour to be one of the guests at Mosnel’s 180th birthday celebrations. While there, a unique tasting of their flagship Franciacorta Extra Brut, called EBB, was special. You can read all about Mosnel and that superb sparkling wine here. A return to Mosnel via these pages was …

Tenuta Liliana – a new Cabernet Sauvignon from Puglia

Paul HowardArticles, Blog, Climate Emergency, Italy, Organic, Puglia, Regenerative, Sustainability, Wine Business

Tenuta Liliana Winery

Tenuta Liliana – a new Cabernet Sauvignon from Puglia Puglia is best known for big red wines, principally from native grape varieties such as Primitivo and Negroamaro. Almost inevitably, Puglia also has representation from the international brigade, typified by Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Often, it’s easy to dismiss international varieties because of their ubiquity. However, there are exceptions to the …

Not The Usual Suspects – Alternative Grape Varieties

Paul HowardArticles, Blog, Climate Emergency, Sustainability, Wine Business

Grape Varieties - Not the Usual Suspects

Not The Usual Suspects – Alternative Grape Varieties Are you tired of Pinot Grigio or cheesed off with Cabernet? Do you find Merlot mundane, or that Sauvignon isn’t your scene? In which case, why not broaden your vinous horizons? But wait – many wines featured on these pages are not these usual suspects. Estimates say that up to 10,000 different …

Goetheanum Celebrates Centenary of Biodynamics

Paul HowardArticles, Biodynamic, Blog, Climate Emergency, Organic, Sustainability, Wine Business

Goetheanum Exhibition Steiner Blackboard drawing 1924.

Goetheanum Celebrates Centenary of Biodynamics The Goetheanum and the Biodynamic farming community worldwide have reason to celebrate this year. 2024 marks the Centenary of the philosophy and practice of Biodynamics. In the beginning It all began in 1924. European farmers saw increasing disease and susceptibility in their plants and animals. Furthermore, they already had concerns about the adverse impacts of …

Passive Cooking saves energy, CO2 and money

Paul HowardArticles, Blog, Climate Emergency, Italy, Sustainability

Passive Cooking by Barilla

Passive cooking saves energy, CO2 and money. Passive cooking isn’t sitting and watching TV while someone else cooks dinner for you. No matter how much you might want it to be. Instead, it’s a thoughtful response to the Energy Crisis, subsequently developed as an ad campaign by pasta makers Barilla and then picked up by the press and media*. Sure, Barilla is promoting its …

Slow Wine Coalition – Good, Clean and Fair Wine

Paul HowardArticles, Biodynamic, Blog, Climate Emergency, Italy, Organic, Sustainability, Wine Business

Slow Wine Coalition

Slow Wine Coalition – Good, Clean and Fair Wine The Slow Wine Coalition is a new collaborative wine network established by the Slow Food movement*. For some years now, vanguard wineries from around the globe have understood that we must establish a wine industry upon solid environmental, ethical and social values. As a result, many sustainable initiatives are now happening …

Bulk wine uses British glass wine bottles optimally

Paul HowardArticles, Blog, Climate Emergency, Sustainability, Wine Business

Encirc Bottle Filling Line

Bulk wine uses British glass wine bottles optimally. Bulk – what’s in a name? The word derives from Old Norse, where the phrase bulki meant both a cargo and a ship’s hold. The modern meaning has become broader. On the one hand, it describes a large commodity, stored loose and unpackaged. Think bulk buying, bulk cargo, bulk carrier, bulk shipment, bulk discount. …

SWGB: sustainability and using glass wine bottles

Paul HowardArticles, Blog, Climate Emergency, England and Wales, Sustainability, Wine Business

SWGB Sustainable Logo

SWGB: sustainability and using glass wine bottles Sustainability isn’t a “nice to have” these days, it’s an essential part of business success, and wine growing is no exception. In an exciting development, WineGB (English and Welsh wine’s national association) commenced a new environmental sustainability scheme last year. It’s called SWGB, standing for Sustainable Wines of Great Britain. The SWGB code affirms that members …