As another Burns Night approaches and the weather continues in favourably dram-enthusing mode my thoughts turn to Scotland’s greatest poet and his associations with whisky through his verse. One particular piece resonates with me, “The De’il’s Awa Wi’ The Exciseman”. Robert Burns himself spent some years as an exciseman but despite this he turned his […]

  We are in the middle of the 2006 Burgundy Campaign at the moment but I have not lost sight of Pinot Noir from elsewhere. Decanter Magazine commissioned me to write a piece on the best locations in the New World for Pinot – just published in their February 2008 issue, and I thoroughly enjoyed writing […]

Early in 2007 the celebrated Rhône writer, John Livingstone Learmonth sent me (along with the rest of his address book) a petition to try and prevent what was described as ‘Le Cornas menacé par l’urbanisation’ . Unbelievably the powers that be (or were) planned to build a 5 storey building slap bang in the middle […]

I like to start Christmas with a glass of Champagne and the refined elegance of Billecart Salmon  fits the bill perfectly. Moving on to white wine to serve with oysters I would select a Chablis, and the biting, mouth-watering minerality of Billaud Simon ‘s wines has no peer in my book. With turkey I eschew […]