Book Review: Italian Wine Unplugged, Grape by Grape Italian Wine Unplugged brings something genuinely new. In this review, I’ll explain why. For me, Italian wines are a treasure trove of history, culture, food, language, colour, scents and flavours. There’s no denying that Italy makes great wines; in every region, in every possible style and at every price point. Italian wine …
Ten Wine Scandals – Should Have Gone To Blockchain
Ten Wine Scandals – Should Have Gone To Blockchain Since my first Blockchain article, there’s been lots of interest in the potential of using this emerging technology in the wine industry, especially to guarantee wine origins, safety and quality. In this article, I suggest that Blockchain could be the solution to prevent future wine scandals. Rules and regulations There are lots of …
Macdonald Leeming House Hotel, Ullswater
Macdonald Leeming House Hotel, Ullswater As of July 2017, the Lake District national park became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In so doing it became the 31st UK site, a “cultural landscape reflecting the combined works of nature and man”. The beauty of the landscape plus thousands of years of agriculture and industry has inspired generations of artists, poets and writers. …
St John Bread and Wine – offal needn’t be awful
St John Bread and Wine – offal needn’t be awful Back in 1994, Fergus Henderson and Trevor Gulliver opened the St John restaurant. It’s still around the corner from Smithfield Market in a once dilapidated part of Clerkenwell. The emphasis is on British recipes, simplicity and seasonality. It also includes all the meats now ignored by squeamish Brits. Yes, we’re …
Spike Milligans Tape Recorder – wines that won the war
Spike Milligans Tape Recorder – wines that won the war I have before me a torn-out page from the Independent on Sunday, from 24th November 1991. It’s page 65. There, below an article extolling the culinary charms of the Chestnut (chestnut flour available from Valvona & Crolla in Edinburgh, priced at £6.99 per kg), is a weekly guest column called …
Independent Wine Merchants – worth your time and money
Independent Wine Merchants – worth your time and money It has long been my belief that the independent wine retail sector is the best place to find high-quality, exciting wines in the UK. Usually, there is also excellent customer service. I say this in the knowledge of previously being Contributing Editor for the ASDW magazine and buying wine from many …
Ambrosus – from Farm to Fork with Blockchain
Ambrosus – from Farm to Fork with Blockchain A few weeks ago, I wrote a speculative article on how Blockchain technology will revolutionise the wine industry. You can read about that here. In so doing, this article attracted lots of interest and attention from the Blockchain community. So much so that it ended up going to number one in the Google …
Questions on wine, travel and food that I wish you’d ask
Questions on wine, travel and food that I wish you’d ask I get lots of questions about wine, food and travel. That’s great; it’s part of doing the job I love! Check out my About Me page for the basic info on why I do what I do. Meanwhile, here are some questions that I wish someone would ask me. In …
Corks Out! Diam Bouchage fights back
Corks Out! Diam Bouchage fights back. Hands up, who has had a bottle of corked wine? Ok, that’s most of you. And I don’t mean wine with a few bits of cork floating in it. It’s the awful smell and taste of musty or mouldy cardboard. The culprit is TCA, short for 2,4,6-Trichloroanisole. It forms when airborne bacteria and fungi …
The secrets of Champagne Billecart-Salmon
The Secrets of Champagne Billecart-Salmon Billecart-Salmon is in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ in the Montagne de Reims, in the heart of the Champagne region. They make excellent Champagnes down on the rue Carnot and are most famous in the UK for their Rosé. As their labels proudly state, the House dates back to 1818, created by Nicolas-François Billecart. It’s still family-owned, one of …