For those of you contemplating travelling to Argentina in the near future,  may I offer are three very valuable pieces of advice. Firstly you must in fact go first to Chile, so as to benefit from going too far, as it were, and having the excuse of crossing the Andes four times before returning home (as […]

Well, Bordeaux and Burgundy 2009 have both come and gone with appropriate fanfare, a flurry of superlatives and salesmen clamouring for more and more allocations, often unsuccessfully. And now, the third and final Primeur Offer, an increasingly significant part of the BBR calendar…… Rhône 2009. And the news on the vintage is every bit as […]

The idea was as immediately appealing as it was self-evidently indulgent, namely to conduct an ‘experiment’ to assess the on-going impact of altitude on the taste and flavour of Champagne. And we are not talking 35, 000 feet here, and the effects of cabin pressure and recycled air of a dubious nature. On the contrary, […]

Located nearly 500 miles west of Casablanca, basking in gentle Atlantic currents (not so gentle during the recent floods) Madeira is a small volcanic island, beloved of the so-called silver tourists and of course of those who appreciate the very finest of fine fortified wines. I, for a few more years at least,  fall only […]