Restricted to holidaying during school breaks, our family pilgrimage to Portugal hangs in the balance because prices are three times higher in peak season. So an invitation to Portugal to review the country’s largest consumer wine fair in Porto: Essencia do Vinho (Essence of wine) and to help judge Portugal’s Top 10 wines, could not ..read more

Vagabond Wines first came onto my radar as an oddly spacious wine shop near my office that had a large table inside and a series of enomatic wine machines to try before you buy. This hybrid format of wine retailing was pretty revolutionary back then so much so that every time I walked passed the place would ..read more

There’s no denying the influence a wine label and overall pack has on my desire to buy a wine. On a mammoth trek of wine stores (Coop, M&S, Sainsbury, Majestic, Tesco, Morrisons, Waitrose, Lidl) in South London the other week only one store had any bottles open to try which meant the price point and ..read more

A hangover of monumental proportions the other week taught me that Prosecco on tap does not a fun morning make. I’ve not had a hangover on that scale since I was child free and lie-ins and foggy heads were the weekend norm. Two other blasts from my vinous past have taken me down a rather more ..read more

The healthification of alcohol consumption among millenials was personified last night at the Circle of Wine Writers Christmas party where there was a notable absence of next generation wine scribes on the one hand and a jolly time being had by all on the other. As one that missed the millennial nametag by a matter ..read more

If the foggy messages filling the school mums whatsapp group after our first ‘pamper night social’ are anything to go by then wine consumption is still going strong and the capacity to get through large volumes when a group of women get together is vast! So it was surprising to find myself surrounded by women at ..read more