Yes I’m now back in Serralunga d’Alba after a two month sosta/break in the UK. Dare I say that I have come home? But this time I’ve returned with the family, now resident at La Casa Rossa. Spaghetti Western-esque we’d loaded the wagon (Fiat Doblo) with Christmas pudds, Fortnum’s biscuits and Berrys’ finest malt whisky […]

I find this time of year the toughest by far… Burgundy En-Primeur. It is a living hell, where I am waking up in cold sweats and arguing with my colleagues. No this is not a complaint about how busy I am but the problem all Burgundy ‘nuts’ have…what on earth do I buy this vintage?!

As I have been based in Italy for the past few months I could well be initiating a new tradition of having Christmas, ‘Natale’, here in Serralunga d’Alba, Piedmont, and I’m banking on the following being served for lunch:   Lentils with cotechino (a pork salami) as an antipasti/starter; the dish is thought to bring […]

Champagne is a delightful enigma; seen by some as a stand-alone category which bears scant resemblance to the rest of the wine trade, and by others as a bell-weather, providing early warning when choppy seas lie ahead but when the waters are calm, luxuriating in the hazy trappings of  indulgence and success. Whichever interpretation is […]