Tent and sleeping bag packed, Helen McGinn – the award-winning author behind The Knackered Mothers’ Wine Club – considers the essential vinous supplies required for a camping trip. I don’t know about you, but I’m not a fan of camping. I’m an unhappy camper, as it were; which is slightly surprising given that I live […]

Elaborate swirls of crystal, paraphernalia reminiscent of secondary-school chemistry and studious pouring; decanting can seem a mysterious business. Here our Wine Club Manager Katie Cooper demystifies the art of the decanter. The act of decanting a wine is pretty simple: in straightforward terms, it is transferring the wine from the bottle into another vessel, either […]

As we continue to repost articles from our historic Number Three magazine, we republish an article about gin and its “squalid past”, originally published in the autumn of 1957. The drunkard sunk more in disgrace, / Had a look of brutality scowling; / In his soul, in his heart, in his face, / The gin like a demon […]

In response to yesterday’s post claiming that exploration is essential to the enjoyment of wine, Peter Newton considers the limits of discovery, suggesting that one should stick to the unswerving staples of a cellar. Let’s start with a fundamental truth: life is too short to drink bad wine. I could almost end my argument there, […]