Chateau M&S – En Primeur Bordeaux wine without the wait Christine Austin May 12, 2017 Drink, Wine Buying wine en primeur usually involves paying up front and waiting a couple of years before you actually receive the goods. You also have to buy by the case, or at least six bottles at a time. Now there is a...
Best of Deep Purple – Malbec Lightens Up Christine Austin May 5, 2017 Drink, Wine As warmer spring weather at last shakes off the chill of winter, the most pressing thought of the weekend is whether the barbecue can be extracted from the shed without having to rearrange all the rakes and...
Sunday Best – Wines for Easter Lamb Christine Austin April 22, 2017 Drink, Wine If part if your Easter celebration involves sitting around the table with family and friends then there is a strong chance that there is a joint of lamb in your fridge, waiting for tomorrow. I just love the...
Island Vintage Christine Austin March 29, 2017 Drink, Wine Think of New Zealand and you might just think of Sauvignon Blanc. After all, 70% of New Zealand’s wine is packed with those fresh, zippy, gooseberry-charged flavours that have made New Zealand Sauvignon the...
Archangel Face Christine Austin March 17, 2017 Drink, Wine Mary Zurakowski opened the big doors of her family winery with a smile and a Kiwi accented ‘How are you?’ She and her husband Ian have lived in New Zealand for many years, although when we sat down and...
Best of Bedfellows Christine Austin March 15, 2017 Drink, Wine ‘Normally we call this wine Syrah, but we are experimenting with putting Shiraz on the label for the latest shipment to the UK,’ said David Roper, winemaker at Villa Maria in New Zealand. ‘The wine is...
Cape Crusaders Christine Austin March 12, 2017 Drink, Wine So what would you do if you were well into retirement age, and had owned and run one of Bordeaux’s most prestigious properties for 30 years? Then you decide to sell it, but being still active and keen to do...
Give me Sunshine Christine Austin March 11, 2017 Drink, Wine How was January for you? Grey and chilly, with the occasional sprinkling of snow? Perhaps you should have joined the exodus that seems to happen each winter as Yorkshire folk board planes and head down to...
Sealed with a loving fizz Christine Austin February 13, 2017 Drink, Wine Check the date on this newspaper and you will see that we are rapidly approaching St Valentine’s Day. I only recently looked up the history of this saint and discovered that there may have been several...
Sardinia wine: Elixir of Life Christine Austin February 6, 2017 Drink, Wine Giovanni Loi sat at the front of the hall for the lecture by the learned professor. The subject was age, something Giovanni knows a lot about. He is 98, looks about 70 and is a fit as a fiddle. He walked up...
