Prompted by a brilliant series on The Rest Is History podcast, I’ve been reading Richard Davenport-Hines’ Titanic Lives. It’s a fascinating tale of class, wealth, emigration and, of course, hubris. “The boat is unsinkable,” declared Philip Franklin, vice-president of White Star Line, the ill-fated ship’s owner, on the very night of the tragedy.
Read more...
Andrew Catchpole caught up with the film director and Luberon Estate owner at Wine Paris following the UK launch of his wines.
Read more...
Someone once told me that you know what your ideal job is when you enjoy it so much, are so motivated to get up and crack on every morning, that you’d do it even if you weren’t paid. That’s perhaps a bit unrealistic for most people whose primary motivation is to earn money to live, but the point is clear. It helps a lot if you love what you do.
Read more...
As head of the BIVB, with leading wineries in Burgundy and Languedoc, Laurent Delauney talks to Andrew Catchpole about adaptability, evolution and climate change.
Read more...
Jason Millar takes stock of Bolgheri, which offers so much more than its starriest names.
Read more...
Andew Catchpole heads underground to meet Octavian’s Vincent O’Brien in this extraordinary West Country storage facility.
Read more...
In 1980, Neil and Lorraine Ashmead were looking to move back to their native Australia after several years spent working in Saudi Arabia. Keen for a rural enclave to raise their two sons, they found a homestead in the Barossa Valley, surrounded by a derelict vineyard of old Shiraz and Cabernet vines.
Read more...
Andrew Catchpole caught up with Thibault Lavergne of Wine Story at Vin, London’s leading French tasting, to find out what makes this specialist importer tick
Read more...
With India now slaking over half the globe’s thirst for whisky, Andrew Catchpole asks winemaker-turned-leading distiller Michael d’Souza for the inside track.
Read more...
Back in the good old days when my life involved selling millions of bottles of Hungarian wine to the UK’s major retailers, I made an appointment with the buyer at Sainsbury’s. They bought from one of our competitors and were proving a hard nut for me to crack. Buyers often kept suppliers waiting beyond the appointed time, so I settled down with my copy of The Guardian in anticipation.
Read more...
Miles Corish MW, MD of Milestone Wines, takes issue with ‘a classic case of smoke and mirrors’.
Read more...
Dipping into the Burgundy tasting season, Jason Millar says there is value to be found.
Read more...
From five years of “looking into the abyss”, Hallgarten’s future has been assured by a serious, if somewhat mysterious, new player in the form of Coterie Holdings. Jo Gilbert caught up with Andrew Bewes, MD of the former, and Michael Saunders, CEO of the latter, to peer beneath the surface of this major new deal.
Read more...
It was a scary moment, at least in wine terms. There I was in the cellar at Domaine Leroy in Vosne-Romanée, tasting some of the most expensive reds on the planet. Meetings with Madame Bize are never relaxing. She combines hauteur with the ability to freeze a glass of Pinot Noir at 10 paces. People who have earned her displeasure are never granted access to her presence again.
Read more...
Jo Gilbert catches up with Stef Holt on her new role as the first curator of world whisky for Mangrove Global.
Read more...
Emiliana, the world’s largest organic winery, has sustainability woven into its soul, with wines to match the winemaker’s passion. Andrew Catchpole dropped by.
Read more...
Izzy is a twenty-year-old student at York University. Many decades ago I was one there too. In my time students received grants for living costs and tuition fees were paid by the Government. Today those are dealt with by repayable loans. But the loans may not be enough to allow access to all. Like Izzy, for example.
Read more...
Jason Millar makes the case for an under-represented Italian region, the wines of which he says rival those of Sicily.
Read more...
Under new leadership Jascots Wine Merchants marches on, strengthening its on-trade reach while making inroads with indies, as Andrew Catchpole discovers.
Read more...
I spent Christmas in South Carolina, to where my wife’s parents have just moved after three decades in Colorado. What with the new home and the festive season, there was much to celebrate. All of which, naturally, called for a special bottle.
Read more...
