Mike Matthews on Stevens Garnier's Portuguese portfolio

Portuguese wines are good, fact! I'm not entirely sure why I tend to ignore them at trade events.

Miguel Cruz Liljegren: Why sommeliers need to raise their PR online

Why sommeliers need to raise their PR online

Jenny Mackenzie on the Co-op's 'eclectic' wine range

Jenny Mackenzie reports from Majestic's summer tasting

Despite its size - 193 stores and counting - Majestic manages to retain a personal touch, with a biannual magazine written by its "graduate staff" and autonomous tweeting from each branch.

Douglas Blyde gets to know the Martini at Duke's Hotel

Claire Smith, global ambassador for super-premium Polish vodka brand Belvedere, co-hosted a Martini masterclass at Duke's Hotel with head barman Alessandro Palazzi. Amid oils of shiny horses and brass-buttoned riders, Smith preceded proceedings with: "It's not a hard sell to hang out with Alessandro at Duke's..."

Gilbert Winfield on the intricacies of the new "Chianti Classico Revolution"

Albert Eistein, a man who knows a thing or two about the difference between complication and simplicity, once said: "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler." This was brought to my mind last month when the great and the good of the wine writing world (and I) gathered in a packed room in Somerset House for a press conference to introduce the 'Chianti Classico Revolution" at the combattantly named 'Tuscany Strikes Back' tasting. Perhaps the Consorzio del Vino Chianti Classico could take Einstein's message to heart, too.

Justin Keay meets the Californian winemakers who are throwing away the rulebook

For UK consumers tucking into a bottle of wine from California's Central Coast, chances are that it will be from Monterey County, lying just south of San Francisco.

Douglas Blyde takes a trip to the wineries of Slovenia

Klemen Mle?nik fleetingly casts eyes to a clearing high in the densely-forested hills. There, a five metre high inscription made of stones proclaims 'TITO' in capitals. "Older people maintain it"...

Jenny Mackenzie on Marks & Spencer's spring tasting

A key focus of M&S's spring press tasting was to show the 'major refresh' of the Italian range, overseen by winemaker Jeneve Williams, working with buyer Emma Dawson.

Douglas Blyde enjoys a night out with Beringer wines and premium US cuisine at CUT, Park Lane

Laurie Hook, Beringer's seventh winemaker since the winery was founded in 1896, hosted dinner at Wolfgang Puck's first European restaurant, CUT, Park Lane recently to showcase its range of premiuim Californian wines.

The List: The Providores

Anne Krebiehl navigates the 99% Kiwi wine list at London's Providores and Tapa Room

Sommelier's view: Cedric Beaumond, Bo

The newest addition to Bo London's team is Cedric Beaumond, previously head sommelier and wine manager at what he describes as the "relatively comfortable" Savoy Grill.

Alvin Cheung: searching for perfection at Bo London

The self-dubbed 'Demon Chef', Alvin Leung does not do anything by halves, as Douglas Blyde discovers while delving...

Jenny Mackenzie finds much to discover at Wine Society tasting

The Wine Society held its spring tasting last week showing 60 wines new to the list in 2013. The long-standing loyalty and affection from the UK wine press saw "94% attendance" and plenty of enthusiastic tweeting, encouraged along by PR manager and social media supremo, Ewan Murray.

The List: Enoteca Turi

Owner Guiseppe Turi tells Bernadette John why Italian wines triumph over all on the list at Puglia specialist Enoteca Turi

Round table: Vinho Verde uncovered

Harpers and Vinho Verde hosted a round table to assess the region's potential as a producer of food-friendly wines

It's all meat and drink to Hawksmoor

There has never been a better time to go out for a steak in London and you would struggle to find a place superior to Hawksmoor. Dominic Midgley discovers the chain is as proud of its drinks offer as it is its rib eyes and sirloins

Heather Dougherty on the Wine Society's French outpost

The withering of the presence of UK supermarkets across the Channel has left The Wine Society and Majestic as the last redoubt of the English wine trade in and around Calais. While Majestic, as a publicly listed company, must show that there is a commercial imperative for the continued presence of its two stores in Calais, The Wine Society, as usual, has a rather different perspective.

Douglas Blyde discusses the world of Prosecco with winemaker Primo Franco of producer Nino Franco

Primo Franco, of Prosecco producer, Nino Franco, marked 30 years since he produced his first vintage by hosting a lunch at Hawksmoor restaurant, Air Street, Mayfair. Franco mentions that his choice of restaurant - the latest in the clubby Hawksmoor quartet, and first to offer dishes devised by celebrity fisherman, Mitch Tonks alongside signature steak - happens to lie close to the recently-refurbished five star, Café Royal. It was in those kitchens during the early 1970s, explains Franco with a wry smile, that he toiled as a kitchen porter. After his first shift, during which he confronted "an endless seeming conveyor of dishes", the disorientated, young navvy found himself spending the bulk of his earnings on the taxi home to Acton.

Restaurant review: Guillaume Glipa Coya Restaurant & Bar

In the aftermath of International Pisco Sour Day, Douglas Blyde talks to Guillaume Glipa, general manager of Coya, London's latest Peruvian restaurant.