Heart of Glass
POSTED ON 29/05/2009Since our politicians have shown themselves to have all the moral backbone of a smack of jellyfish, it leaves something of a bitter taste in the mouth to have to listen to the nanny state’s killjoy cant about alcohol. Drinking wine is bad, so the mantra goes, because it causes cyrrhosis, it’s anti-social and brings death and destruction on the roads. Well, yes, it’s obvious to anyone with quarter of a brain that excessive drinking, whether of wine, beer or spirits, is harmful.
Big Country - France's Vins de Pays
POSTED ON 15/05/2009In its desperate need to stem the encroaching New World tide, the annual Top 100 competition for France’s vins de pays has shown a way of spotlighting good wines and value in an area that can be tough for consumers to get a handle on. Unlike the big New World brands, whose easy virtues make life easy for wine drinkers, French wines tend to rely heavily on the appellations as substitutes for brands. The trouble is that appellations are designations or origin, not quality, and most, like Bordeaux or Côtes du Rhône, are just too big and sprawling to be meaningful.
In the Pink
POSTED ON 08/05/2009I knew that rosé had finally arrived during the long, hot summer of 2003, as my overheated car and I limped wearily into Bordeaux.
In the Pink © Ed Nix
On every table of every bar and café I saw stood a bottle of Bordeaux rosé in an ice bucket. In an instant the world's biggest red wine region seemed to be quenching its thirst with pink as if there were no other colour. Since that torrid summer, rosé wines have taken off like a rocket and never looked back. There are good reasons why pink is the new black.
