Wine by the half — and the 20

2:50pm Thursday 28th August 2008

One of the most memorable things I ever saw on a visit to a historic building was the detail in the wine cellar of Queen Mary's magnificent dolls' house at Windsor Castle. I was particularly impressed (and astonished) to read that the tiny bottles - slighter than the nail of my smallest finger - actually contained real wine.

	Environmentally friendly wines
	11:21am Thu 21 Aug 08
	As someone who has spent seven years or so buying and selling organically-certified wine, I thought I was pretty well up to speed on all things environmental when it came to the world of wine. That was until I came across the world's first LEAF marque wines.

	Catching up on some wine news
	2:52pm Thu 14 Aug 08
	I don't like August. It's a flat month in the wine world. Everyone's on holiday and my daily flood of emails from wine-maker friends and colleagues completely dries up.

	An area of lovely, charming wines
	6:21am Fri 8 Aug 08
	If I could have my first ever trip to Burgundy again, I wouldn't head for the famed vineyards of the Côtes de Nuits or the Côtes de Beaune, instead I would drive south and begin in the Mâconnais.

	Value bubbly has no less sparkle
	4:28pm Fri 1 Aug 08
	James Wilson tells a lovely story in his book, Terroir: The Role of Geology, Climate and Culture in the Making of French Wines, about his conversion from bourbon to Champagne as his chosen analeptic.

	Oxford, a centre of wine learning
	9:56am Thu 24 Jul 08
	If I had a bottle of wine for every time someone told me I had one of the best jobs in the world, I could start having baths in the stuff. People envy the regular wine tastings and who am I to blame them?

New- versus Old-World Wine

10:13am Sunday 20th July 2008

Recently I took part in a day-long seminar aimed at potential Master of Wine (MW) students. It's a notoriously tricky exam to pass and, it seems to me, is undertaken by the mad, the brilliantly gifted or the doggedly determined.

	Use your sommelier!
	4:07pm Tue 15 Jul 08
	I am writing my column this week in the stunning city of Santiago do Compostela after a week-long tour of the vineyards and wineries of Galicia. It has been a fantastic few days, not just for the wines, the scenery and the food, but for the company I found myself in.

	Do you know how much you drink?
	2:06pm Thu 3 Jul 08
	Three people have asked me how many units of wine I drink a week in the last four days: the osteopath, the dentist and my friend who popped round for supper. I suspect my average consumption is something like a bottle and a half to two bottles a week. I was brought up thinking that there were six glasses in a bottle and that one glass roughly equalled one unit. So, there I was thinking I was somewhere between a nine to 12-unit a week girl.

Wines for Wimbledon

1:32pm Thursday 26th June 2008

The house I grew up in had large French windows that opened up on to the garden and the public pathway beyond. In the same way that it offered a perfect vista from which to watch the village comings and goings, so too passers-by were able to keep their eyes on us.

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