Fizz, the Sparkling Wine Show in London every autumn is a terrific opportunity to get your taste buds and nose around some of the best new non-Champagne sparking wines on the UK market. It’s held in Church House in London in their glorious round hall and is organised by the indefatigable Ben Campbell-Johnson. It is […]

We’ve all been to Real-ale festivals, big and small; and we thought that CAMRA’s offering a few months ago at Olympia in London was pretty impressive. It was big but, depending on how you measure these things, it wasn’t the biggest: Wetherspoons are claiming that crown with festivals in every one of their pubs simultaneously, […]

If you are a French wine-maker, it is likely that you are a fairly small operation and that you could benefit from some sort of collaboration with other makers – be it through a coopérative or a négociant. Some, like the group calling itself Rhône Vignobles, choose a looser connection. They held a tasting, with […]

The Champagne Bureau’s Annual London Tasting was held this year in One Great George Street, ’round the corner from Downing Street, the Palace of Westminster and along the park from Buckingham Palace. As ever, the Peretti team set up a splendid bash. The great, the good, the adequate and the befuddled congregated like wildebeest to […]

There is a dance or an on-going negotiation between, on the one hand, bar owners and brands and, on the other, the customers and it’s based on one agreed ambition: both sides want us, the drinkers, to have a good time. We want to do that with the minimum of fuss and the bars and brands […]

There are shows for everything. Wine shows, beer shows, trade shows, press launches etc. etc. etc. … it’s enough to drive you to drink! And this may seem hard to believe but there’s only so much free booze you can sample before you want to give up a head for bed with a hot chocolate. However, […]

Once again, Ben Campbell-Johnston has put on a show of sparkling wines other than Champagne (other than a few specialists or boutique producers). This time held in Church House, a terrific venue. A grand time was had by all.

Sometime life simply gets in the way. There are periods when everything is going swimmingly – you do what you want to do in the time you need to do it and it all runs smoothly. Then there are the periods, of indeterminate duration, when there is too much to do, too much to consider and […]

You’re in a pub. You’re drinking a pint. You’re enjoying it and letting your mind wander. Have you ever wondered how that pint came to be there in your glass? No, neither have I … BUT we were at the Great British Beer Festival, we had a camera and a presenter, in the shape of […]

This is the story of a drinks journalist. A man who, through no fault of his own, found himself enjoying and talking about all drinks, other than those nasty sweet “alcopops” and novelty drinks in funny-shaped bottles that you bring back from holiday and sit in your cupboard for years until, one day, you or […]