Today I received a transfer of approximately ÂŁ12.5k into my bank account accumulated from 375 people who had pledged to the Kickstarter project I ran recently. The project was to raise funds for the production of my book Jura Wine that I will self-publish early next year. Some of the people who pledged are friends… View more
In the past few months the unusual Savoyard grape Persan attracted attention from American wine lovers in New York and from Vinocamp – the French social media and wine meet-ups. Itâs as if there is a rare Alpine grape ripple effect, or perhaps a wonderful spiderâs web in which wine professionals and geeks tiptoe around… View more
The new Wine Grapes book by Jancis Robinson, Julia Harding and JosĂ© Vouillamoz is now weighing down my book shelf, or more often grappling for space on my desk or dining room table. However, I have resisted taking this heavy tome on the plane to Turkey where I have come in advance of EWBC 2012…. View more
On my recent visit to the USA, my first for four years, I was partly there to explore at first hand the buzz about Jura wines, most particularly in San Francisco and New York. I already realized there was interest in this obscure little French wine region on my last visit to the USA, but… View more
January is abstention or certainly moderation month for many. Out on the web, the world may notice that wine communicatorsâ blogs, tweets and FB statuses are somewhat more sober than usual: recipes for special juices, angst about resolutions made or not made, and declarations of resolutions kept or broken break through the usual wine tasting… View more
âYou are very prolific on Facebookâ commented an old school friend recently with some curiosity. Sheâs on there, but I donât think she really gets it. âI mainly do it for businessâ I answered, âalthough there are some fun bits too, I’m probably on there a bit too muchâ I admitted. But am I? When… View more
Some news. Firstly, this is a new website and blog for me, which will keep you up-to-date with everything I’m doing. I’m deserting Blogger and the Winey Wink blog, all the previous posts have been fed in to this WordPress.com blog and I will continue to post here when I have something new to share…. View more
Twenty years ago, long before terroir was considered anything more than a typically mad French idea, microclimate was the thinking wine loverâs buzz word. Back then, terroir was perceived, even by serious wine professionals, as invoking an image of a French vigneron grabbing a handful of earth and telling you: âZees is what matters in… View more
The London International Wine Fair (LIWF) celebrated its 30th anniversary this May and it was probably my 27th visit to the fair. Particularly in the past decade as Iâve split my time between France and the UK, itâs become a really important catch-up and networking event for me. The biggest positive change to the fair… View more
I’ll stand up and say it right away – I’m a fan of Social Media …. how sad is that? Sadder still perhaps is my personal conviction that I should try to convince friends, colleagues or those few people reading this blog who might not be as enamoured with Social Media as I am –… View more
