Month: December, 2010

Burgundy 2009: an exciting vintage

I have been too busy to blog of late: not just launching Inside Burgundy, but also preparing January’s Grand Burgundy Offer which is heading off to the printers even as I type. Several weeks of intense tasting, hard work but enjoyable, then the writing up of the tasting notes which soon drives home the paucity […]

The main event this Christmas

There’s only so much time you can spend trawling through department stores trying to buy for that one awkward family member who has everything, before you end up in a panic and start considering novelty golf socks. I always struggle to find something for my dad, and now his fake ‘thanks!’ is Bafta-award-winningly convincing. This […]

Caspita! Cannubi – the historic heart of Barolo is broken asunder

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 […]

Win the perfect accompaniment to the change in the season

As the temperature continues to drop this week, there is simply no better drink to have in your hipflask than The King’s Ginger. This emphatically ginger liqueur was specially formulated by Berry Bros. in 1903 for King Edward VII. Rich and zesty it was created to stimulate and revivify His Majesty and has been appreciated […]