News from Jancis Robinson

A version of this article is published by the Financial Times. This here pandemic is making us rethink our relationships with many things – workplace, travel, family, face masks, for instance – and alcohol.  For all of us confined between four walls 24 hours a day, the cocktail/wine/beer hour has been an extremely welcome, not to say keenly

As we wine lovers know to our cost, literally, drinks sales are a key contributor to restaurant finances. Nick argues that many businesses will have to adapt their wine lists when they finally reopen after lockdown. A version of this article is published by the Financial Times. The success of any restaurant depends on various factors – its

Ever wanted to get your hands on a single bottle of France's most famous wine? James Halliday, Australia’s best-known wine writer and a huge burgundy fan, is selling a substantial portion – 250 bottles – of his impressive collection of wines from the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti via an online auction run by Australia’s leading wine auctioneers

An Australian classic at a less-than-iconic price. From AU$ 48.99, £33.25, £170 for six bottles in bond, HK$1,620 for six bottles, SG$298.72 for six bottles in bond, HK$324, €241.80 for six bottles, NZ$69.99, 449 Swedish kronor, $56.19, 2,565 New Taiwanese dollars Find this wine Henschke Hill of Grace and Penfolds Grange are Australia’s

A dozen rather grand wines chosen by a UK wine merchant. See similar reports on Lea & Sandeman, Yapp Bros, Haynes Hanson & Clark, Stone, Vine & Sun, Davy's and Maltby & Greek. Above, many vintages ago, Jean-Marc Roulot pours a sample of Meursault for John Armit (today Roulot uses Zaltos). Notting Hill wine merchant Armit has been through several

As proof of his assertion that pergola vine training systems can produce great wines, Walter shares this list. See also Debunking the pergola myth and Pergola – an agronomist's view. The wines below are given without a particular vintage. I recommend buying whichever year is available, which in all likelihood will be the latest vintage. Please

See this guide to all the articles we have published on hospitality professionals' suggested food and wine matches, and make sure you come back on Monday to discover who wins the prize for the best. Dotted throughout the nine hospos’ food and wine pairing articles we’ve published (or are yet to publish) is a sprinkling of delectations for the

One of the last portfolio tastings seen in London before the big lockdown. Today at 3 pm Flint are hosting a Zoom panel discussion entitled The Future of the UK Hospitality Industry after Lockdown. Flint Wines was founded by Jason Haynes, who cut his teeth at the historic fine-wine importer OW Loeb. But he left to set up Flint with Sam Clarke

Agronomist Maurizio Gily, pictured above by Andreas Maerz, is a specialist in viticulture and oenology as well as editor and publisher of scientific articles on these topics, which he publishes on his website www.gily.it. Currently Gily consults for several estates and producers in Piemonte where he lives, as well as in other wine regions in Italy

One of Italy's most distinctive, ancient and aesthetically pleasing training forms is unjustly burdened with a reputation for producing dilute, poor-quality wines, but history shows it is actually one of the earliest efforts to establish good-quality mono-viticulture. See also Postmodern Italy – in search of genuine wine. There is probably no

A round-up of the unusual in this latest instalment of wine and food matches proposed by our hospitality professionals. See more in this guide. There is real beauty in classic pairings, in the way that skiing down a perfect powder run has power, grace and elegance that off-piste skiing quite often lacks. But off-piste pairing can make your heart

Napa Valley has something rather exciting waiting in the wings... In February Napa Valley Vintners hosted their annual Premiere event showcasing wines that were mainly from the 2018 vintage. Each year buyers and media travel from around the world to visit Napa Valley for a week’s worth of tastings leading up to the Saturday morning tasting of

Arnica Rowan examines ways of producing lighter wines when global warming suggests otherwise. Across the planet, consumer preferences are swinging to less concentrated, lower-alcohol beverages. Meanwhile, the global wine industry is facing increasing temperatures, resulting in grapes with higher sugar content at phenolic ripeness, and producing

Walter reports from the European country furthest along the path to relaxing a really stringent lockdown, and is far from relaxed. After more than 52 days of one of the most severe lockdowns in the whole of Europe, Italy began to reboot life and its economy on 3 May. For this whole period we were not allowed to go out of the house (or flat, in

One of the more interesting wine regions you have never heard of? See also Tumbarumba tasted. A version of this article is published by the Financial Times. It all started with the recent terrible bushfires in Australia. The worst-affected wine regions were the Adelaide Hills, Kangaroo Island off the South Australian coast and the delightfully

A few suggestions from an ex-restaurateur and the father of a restaurateur. Social distancing in action in Germany above. Since 2012 when I published my first book The Art of the Restaurateur (Phaidon) I have given numerous talks about this book and my former profession. These have usually been accompanied by 10 slides, highlighting 10

Some Greek treats in the latest instalment of surveys of dozens chosen by independent UK wine merchants. See also Lea & Sandeman, Yapp Bros, Haynes Hanson & Clark, Stone, Vine & Sun and Davy's.I have to admit that when I saw the list of 12 wines that Greek specialists Maltby & Greek proposed to send me, I was a bit worried. The prices looked higher

An ugly-ducking grape turns swan in a remote region of the arid Northern Cape to celebrate tonight's #SpectacularSouthAfrica initiative to encourage everyone to open a bottle of South African wine. From 275 rand (per bottle in a case of 6), €29.95, £31.95, $39.99, 38.90 Swiss francs Find this wine NB I have included prices for the 2017

A cool-climate, bushfire-burnt Australian wine region that deserves to be better known. Tumbarumba in the foothills of the Australian Alps in the south of New South Wales (see this map) suffered particularly badly from the recent awful Australian bushfires, which, in a roundabout way, resulted in my being able to discover its wines, as I will

A rich smorgasbord of food-and-wine pairings volunteered by the laid-off hospitality professionals we have welcomed to Purple Pages recently can be perused via our guide. We have edited the suggestions extremely lightly to keep their spirit intact. Plant-based pairings If you're done on the pizza and popcorn, the steak and cream sauce, then