Olivier Bernstein came to Basingstoke for the day to present his superb range of 2010s: an early Eurostar, cross London by tube, and then a quick jaunt by SouthWest trains to sunny Basingstoke, and an hour or two with the Fine Wine team, tasting the range of 13 wines – one village Gevrey-Chambertin, four red […]

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 […]

During a happy week in Japan I was able to acclimatise myself for the subsequent freezing conditions back in the UK. I missed the snow which fell in Tokyo while I was enjoying dinners in Hiroshima and Fukuoka, several stops down the bullet train line to the southwest, but the clear, crisp, weather conditions made […]

I have just emerged from under the cosh of preparing January’s Grand Burgundy Offer unveiling the 2010 vintage. This time of year is always very high pressure – firstly we need to taste the whole range of wines – around 500 of them – and prepare tasting notes; then there is the frantic whipping in […]