Month: February, 2012

Maria Thun 1922 – 2012

The sad news has just come through that Maria Thun died on February 9th, two months before her 90th birthday. While many of us who have become interested in biodynamics in agriculture, gardening or viticulture might feel doubts when confronted with the evangelical fervour and contorted texts of Rudolf Steiner, Maria Thun provided a much […]

An overview of the Rhône’s 2010s

Our Fine Wine Team recently returned from a four day trip to the Rhône to assess the 2010 vintage wines. We’ve heard a lot of hype about this vintage potentially being the best of the decade for the Rhône, so to find out more we cornered Hamish and Martyn from the team to see what […]

Welcome to the genial world of Barbera d’Asti producer Paolo Laiolo…

When Paolo Laiolo took up the trowel in 1998 and joined his father Guido at the tiny family estate of Laiolo Reginin, it was made clear to him that though he would probably never become rich, he would nonetheless meet many fascinating people along the way. Undeterred, or perhaps spurred on, Paolo responded by spending […]

An English Ambassador in Champagne

Having won the UK final of the Champagne Ambassador in September last year (a competition run by the Champagne Information Bureau, who are the London base for the the CIVC, Champagne’s regulatory body), I followed up with the European final in Champagne itself. This took place at the end of three days touring the region visiting […]