Tom Stevenson opens the pages behind his Sotheby’s Wine Encyclopedia, its perceived location in the geography of wine literature, its historical connection with the very first edition of Johnson’s The World Atlas of Wine, and highlights what’s new in the 5th Edition, which was published by DK on 31 October 2011.

I would never dream of writing anything as self-indulgent as this had Matt Stamp…

Did you know: Berry Bros. and Rudd started out as a coffee shop?  A single living tree may have sired every coffee plant in the Western Hemisphere?  German coffee-drinkers disgrace the national pastime of beer?  French coffee is terrible?  Read on!....

The Origins of Coffee

In the beginning, the Coffea arabica tree grew wild on the mountainsides of Abyssinia (modern-day Ethiopia) but the precise moment that man ascertained…

Have been thinking about wine lists lately.

My wife rolls her eyes when I ask for the wine list. Not because she thinks I might spend too much (she already knows that!) but because she’ll be deprived of my sparkling conversation while I try to make sense of the offerings, with two things in mind. Numero uno, obviously: is there anything we might want to drink? Numero two-o, with more at stake: is there an intelligent…

Winemaking can be traced back thousands of years to ancient societies in China and the Middle East, and that has given rise to a lot of romantic ideas and myths about wine. There’s the general idea that wine is a “civilized” beverage, in part because one of its origins was the ancient Middle Eastern and Mediterranean societies – like Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome – that are often thought of as the basis of Western…

Out there in the real world beyond the damask, the Riedel and the head chefs' egos there may still be a few who believe that the world is flat. There are certainly those who, astonishingly enough in view of the contrary scientific evidence, persist in believing in Intelligent Design, whom we used to call Creationists. There may indeed be some left who still consider it a good idea to sell arms to corrupt and oppressive…

Wine. It’s a liquid made of chemicals. And some of these chemicals have smells and tastes. That, in a nutshell, is wine flavour chemistry—a dauntingly complex but utterly engrossing topic. It’s my goal with this article to try to introduce the subject, outline some of the emerging concepts, and make sure that you stay reading to the end. 

There are two ways of approaching wine flavour chemistry. One is…

I had the opportunity to sit down with one of Argentina's best-known winemakers, Susana Balbo, for a great lunch and flight of wines in Mendoza this past January.  Opinionated, headstrong, and bold: Susana epitomizes the Argentinean spirit and her wines enjoy great success in the USA.  She pioneered the new "classic" style of Torrontes, and was happy to answer a few questions about the grape, her life's work, and wine…

Amidst stacks of old books and lore at Hanzell Vineyards, a few old mid-century magazines have gathered dust, yellowing over time.  The Wine-Butler, the "official organ" of the Guild of Sommeliers, published through the 1950s and 1960s--I do not know when the last issue hit the stands--is a trove of insights into the British wine trade of the time, and the minds of sommeliers. Like us, the sommeliers of the time struggled…

There is not many moments in my life where I have been left breathless...this time spent in France however touring and tasting with Ruinart's Chef de Cave, Frederic Panaiotis in Champagne and exploring the artistry and beauty of Paris was one of those moments.
Our journey began upon arrival to Paris' Charles de Gaul Airport as we were greeted by a jolly Frenchman named Jacque who escorted Nicole Burke from San Francisco…

La renaissance de la vallée du Rhône Nord: A Fresh Look at Vineyards of Crozes-Hermitage and St. Joseph
by Eric Railsback

Things have changed in the Northern Rhône.  It used to be all about the “Big Dogg” wines of ‘La Landonne’, ‘La Chapelle’ and ‘Le Meal’.  Now it is all about the little vigneron, working his small plot of land less-traveled.  Small families…