Do Your Duty

POSTED ON 15/02/2015

In the same month that Aldi pipped Waitrose and Majestic to the best place to buy wine award, the great Burgundy estate, Domaine de la Romanée Conti, held its annual tasting in London, with its priciest wine, Romanée-Conti on offer for £2,110 a bottle plus VAT and duty. Which would you rather, 635 Aldi bottles at £3.99 or one £2,534.05 bottle of Romanée-Conti? Even if you could afford it, you still can’t buy the latter because by popular demand, it’s strictly allocated.

My Valentine

POSTED ON 14/02/2015

I’m always on the horns of a dilemma, as it were, when Valentine’s Day comes round. Do you conform to type and mention the Champagne Bollinger Rosé Champagne that’s supposed to steam up your glasses and get you and your partner in the mood? Or does the cynic simply ignore one of the most rampantly, commercially exploitative days of the year? Anyway, what do people who are supposed to spend Valentine’s night staring into each other’s eyes do for the next 364 days? Answers on a postcard… The dilemma increases along with the pressure when Valentine’s Day happens to fall on a Saturday.

50 Shades of Burgundy 2013

POSTED ON 07/02/2015

A French wine ad with the slogan ‘au gout de la vie’ has recently been banned as illegal for linking wine to enjoyment. Just as well that we live in a civilised country because otherwise I might be in trouble if I mentioned that the new-release burgundy 2013 vintage might just be enjoyable. Since I was busy tasting a selection of wines currently on offer en primeur (i.e. pay now, drink later), it seemed a good time to find out.

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