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As the British summer time officially ends this weekend, it is time to consider how this change of season will play a part on the styles of wine we drink. It doesn’t seem quite right to curl up in front of the fire on a cold winter’s night with a …

Marks & Spencer triumph Eastern Mediterranean wine
This year’s press tasting was a delight as per usual and I could write many blogs about the different highlights, but I was fortunate to talk to Jeneve Williams, Marks & Spencer winemaker for Eastern Mediterranean, who guided me through the wines she had …

Last Friday was World Grenache Day, but do not worry it is not too late to celebrate the Grenache grape.
The last few years have seen the wine-producing world adapt to the consumers purchasing choices with regards to, what ‘grape variety’ is this wine? A whole generation, or two, have explored …

The UK Sailing Academy (UKSA), located on the Isle of Wight, offers a huge range of training opportunities for anyone considering a career within the yachting industry. One of the many courses on offer is their interior crew foundation course.  This runs over several weeks and introduces all delegates to the …

This past weekend was a sunny and social one in Scotland catching up with friends and family. The folks-in-law enjoy a glass of red wine, in particular Shiraz from Australia, so I take pleasure in finding similar alternatives for them to try whenever we meet up. With our friends I …

Inspired once again by my students I have been thinking which wines would be a good alternative to New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc which, according to some of my London-based hospitality students is the most popular wine at the moment by far; a wine for those occasions when we want to …

Before I embarked on my Summer Holiday this year to the beautiful Western Loire region in France, I first consulted my wine guru (that’s Erica Dent) as to what were the pick of the best wines from the region.  Armed with my personally tailored selection, I set off with some …

‘Trouble is, I can’t understand how any wine could be worth that kind of price tag. I bet it doesn’t taste ten times nicer. It’s all smoke and mirrors’.
A reasonable remark made on Facebook this week when commenting on two wines, a bottle of 2006 Côte Rôtie versus a supermarket …

This past weekend has been incredibly hot, and with the sun and warmth of course come Barbecues, hence Helen’s prompt to write her recent blog on barbecue wines. This also made me think about our concern in the UK to still often want to have white wine with fish and …

A lot of people that I talk to tell me categorically that they don’t like sweet wines, this is because they imagine them to be super sweet and very sickly like drinking the juice from a can of peaches! Let me assure you this is not the case if you …