For something closely linked with pleasure, it is amazing just how much anxiety wine decisions can generate. Will I, for example, look (literally) a plonker in front of friends, guests or a sommelier? Relax, guys, if things are that intense you are probably in the wrong place – or with the wrong people! Nevertheless, acquiring …

It’s time folks for more Spectrum Seal of Approval awards; my quarterly quest for High Street wines that punch significantly above their price point. My focus this time is the relatively small but keenly priced ranges of the UK’s premium discounters – Aldi and Lidl. Since both have wines that often win awards, let’s see …

Although the basic 80 per cent of winemaking is undoubtedly science – art and artistry is, surely, the sherpa for the final ascent from good to great. Or so I thought – but I recently met a man who proved me wrong! Mike Ratcliffe, managing director of South Africa’s Warwick Estate, applies science to most …

Judging by the example set by its wine producers, it was no surprise to see Portugal shaking free from its international financial bailout last month. Admittedly, the Portuguese economic recovery remains work in progress but then so, too, is its wine industry. The momentum producers have already created, however, is astonishing. Not so many years …

WHEN Innis & Gunn released its first beer in 2003, the rich vanilla and toffee flavours it had derived from oak ageing had an immediate – and very positive – impact. That was an excellent start – given that this was a beer never intended to be drunk! William Grant & Sons, the distiller behind …