As 13 oenophiles obtain their Master of Wine – with many more chasing the coveted title – MW student Stuart Fyfe reflects on the path to obtaining those two little letters, paved with rigorous examinations putting both a candidate’s theoretical knowledge and tasting ability to the test. The first Master of Wine exam took place in […]

Originally published in the spring of 1971 in our Number Three magazine, this article considers the move toward château-bottling and away from shipping in cask, much to our initial horror. Like other traditional wine merchants we have built our reputation by buying wines in cask and bottling them under our own label. Now it looks […]

As Blog Editor Sophie Thorpe travels to California to collect our “Best Wine Industry Blog” award, she reports back from wine country. I’ve spent the past few days loitering in Lodi, a little corner of the Central Valley that – until now – I knew very little about. Encounters with Californians that led me to […]

In the second of our regional guides, Champagne Specialist Edwin Dublin runs through a checklist for a trip to the region – ticking off where to stay, what to eat and who to visit. All told, Champagne produced about 307 million bottles in 2015, just a little less than Prosecco which now holds the crown […]