I love this time of year. Christmas is just around the corner and shining like a beacon of warmth and cheer in the deepening darkness of winter. The food, the wine, the company and the fun – what better reward at the end of a long, hard year? Throughout St James’s the window displays offer […]

Against the backdrop of Berlusconi’s Houdini escape and subsequent civilian unrest along Rome’s ancient streets, there’s marked discontent in the Langhe hills at the way another such imprenditore (businessman), Oscar Farinetti, is conducting his affairs. As managing director and transitory custodian of Fontanafredda, the historic cantina/institution once belonging to Italy’s royal Savoia family he has […]

In a final dramatic scene being played out in the Langhe, Il Dott. Ernesto Abbona, President of heavyweight Barolo producer Marchesi di Barolo (1.6million bts), is cast in the Machiavellian role making a final desperate grab for vineyard rights. Pitted against him are a band of small growers – let’s call them partisans! – defending […]

It’s been a few weeks since my arrival back in HK and yet my thoughts are still very much in Europe in what was a defining trip for the HK Sales Team, to Piedmont and Burgundy. Granted my ever-expanding belly is the proof of this trip, however, I think the ever-expanding enthusiasm of our sales […]