What's Your Poison

POSTED ON 17/07/2009

It’s not normally the job of this column to regale you with the horror stories of wines tasted on your behalf so that you don’t have to. While wine writing is the job everyone except my teetotal aunt wants, especially those who don’t regard it as a job at all, it does have its pitfalls, and weeding out the sheep from the goats is one of them.

Net Profits

POSTED ON 10/07/2009

Among the usual eBay prohibited suspects of drugs and human parts, one thing you can’t buy and sell is alcohol, because you need a licence. Or couldn’t. Recently though, there’s been a spate of new web-based initiatives, offering the opportunity to buy or sell wines without going through the cumbersome procedure of the auction house or traditional wine broker. How to price your wine or what to pay? Helpfully, there are also sites giving you the market price of your wine or a wine you’re thinking of buying.

Net Gains

POSTED ON 05/07/2009

In the quiet heart of the countryside where I am at the moment, there is no public transport. The only way I can buy a bottle of wine is to get in my car and drive to the nearest town, where I'm faced with the uninspiring selection of my local supermarket. Am I bothered? On the contrary. I have the entire world of wine at the click of a mouse. For the latest information and news, all I have to do is tune into one of the free content sites, click on one of a number of good wine blogs, or, for exchanging views and information, I can 'socially network' on Facebook or Twitter.

Britain's got talent

POSTED ON 03/07/2009

It’s a fair bet that when Barack Obama sipped the 1998 Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs served on his recent visit to Britain, compliments will have been duly showered on his host like confetti. It’s an open secret that despite the stigma that sill attaches to English wine, England can more than hold its head high in the sparkling wine stakes. With more than 100 awards doled out this year in the UK’s consumer wine competitions, English wines, sparkling wines in particular, have harvested a bumper crop.