Wine Events, Wine Education, Journalist
Chinese New Year is a fantastic excuse to heat the wok, twist the corkscrew and do one of the things I love best. Cook food and drink wine. Here’s some of my favourite white wines for Chinese New Year. I picked some lovely things to cook for friends. Spare ribs marinaded overnight; salt and Sichuan pepper king […]
Who would have thought there is a day devoted to the humble yet wondrous Yorkshire Pudding. I love a Yorkshire pud, even better, I love its traditional accompaniment of beef. So when someone told me that tomorrow, Sunday, is The Day to celebrate Yorkshire puddings (always the first Sunday in February apparently) it seemed a
Wine Press: Roast beef, wine and National Yorkshire Pudding Day Read More »
If you’ve managed to get this far into 2015 without touching a drop of alcohol, then well done. Not long to go now, my Dry January heroes. Soon you can have a February glass of something. For those of you with a detox backbone, here’s a trio of wines, which aren’t wines any more. Let
Torres Natureo ‘wines’ might help the Dry January blues Read More »
The best way to bring in the New Year is with a perfect *pop!* closely followed by fizzy frothiness streaming into a giddily clasped glass. Sparkling wine is so exciting. With no science involved, here’s some ideas for your sparkling and party wines. New Year sparklers for less than a tenner: Tesco finest* Pignoletto (£8.99) is an
Bring in the New Year with a perfect sparkling wine pop! Read More »
KEEP your eyes peeled on the supermarket shelves for a new raft of medal winners which have impressed judges in the International Wine Challenge. A total of 184 gold, silver and bronze medals have been awarded to supermarket own-brand wines, with Marks & Spencer trouncing the competition picking up 73 gongs, more than twice as many medals as
Marks & Sparks’ wines top Gold table in International Wine Challenge gongs Read More »
CARMENÈRE. Chile’s signature grape. I’m intrigued by this wine’s story, so I’m sharing it with you. As I write, I’m still on staycation, staring out at blue Welsh skies brushed with rolling grey clouds, but happily sipping Viña Koyle Alto Colchagua Reserva Carmenère, 2012 (£8.95, The Wine Society) at the naughty wine time of 5.15pm.
Carmenère and Chile go together but for years grape was forgotten Read More »
SOME nights you can’t be bothered going overboard cooking food, but you still neeeeeeed a glass of midweek wine. Beans on toast may be the way to go. Or sausage and mash. Or chippie shop fish and chips. A tikka masala ready meal? If you want to perk up your plates (and who can blame you)
Baked beans? You can have anything with a midweek wine Read More »
MANY moons ago, before Facebook and text messaging, I used to talk to people face to face, generally in pubs. When I was a young-ish pup my brother introduced me to gin with slices of cucumber in his village local. Most gin lovers there drank gin that way, so much so that the bar staff kept cucumber on a plate next
I HAD a rotten day the other day and was in need of comfort. I stood in a supermarket aisle in front of something which declared itself to be fresh and crisp. I wasn’t in the fruit and vegetable section. It also had “sparkling” on the label. I certainly wasn’t near the household cleaning products.
Freixenet and Mia range looks to the younger market Read More »