Jefford on Monday

Subterranean terroir

France, as befits a largely limestone land, is stuffed with deep, dramatic and often beautifully illuminated caves.

China on our minds

Will China one day overtake the USA to become the world’s leading wine-drinking nation?

Rebel harvest

The picking sortie at Raventos i Blanc gave me a chance to catch up with the Cava rebel, and gauge a little of his thinking.

A great year?

I’ve been trying to get to the Burgundy harvest for years.

There must surely be some way to tweak the stuffy Bordeaux model, though; to have a bit more fun and informality; to change the message and re-draw all the visuals; to lift the shutters, and let a little more human sunlight in.

Kiwi Pinot à la mode

The idea was to promenade some key New Zealand Pinot Noir producers on a series of wine dinners, showing off their Pinots and Chardonnays to French diners as they did so, and fetching up in Burgundy.

Tasting notes – the shame of the wine world?

Should tasting notes not, in fact, be seen as the shame of the wine world? Shouldn’t we ‘just say no to notes’, and settle for a score?

Taste wine just like person

In the same week that Decanter announced its Asia Wine Awards (I’m looking forward to tasting in Hong Kong in September), I found myself having an email conversation with a winemaker from Inner Mongolia.

The two-million bottle bet – and beyond

This may be the cleverest piece of vineyard sourcing I’ve ever come across, and it led to the creation of one of France’s most enduringly successful Vin de Pays (now IGP) wines.

That’s the way to do it

It’s a classic start: anthropology student turns cellar-rat, and goes tank-cleaning his way around France, Hungary, Romania and South Africa...