With the festive season approaching, our Wine Correspondent Leona De Pasquale explores why Gigondas wines can be something that spice up your Christmas dinner table.

***

“The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,

before the Lord of all the earth.” (Psalm 97:5).

Welcome to Gigondas!  Perched on the foothills of the famous Dentelles de Montmirail, it is arguably one of the most pretty wine villages in France.  For long, Gigondas wines have been seen as an alternative to Châteauneuf-du-Pape with equally good quality but offering much better value for money.  But in fact, the two appellations are quite distinct in terms of terroir.

Read more…

I  am delighted to introduce the youngest member of our editorial team, Tasha Gartside, who will be writing a regular monthly ‘column’ about the joys and benefits of Vegetarian food, which will be of great interest for many of our readers who are long standing Vegetarians, and others who are more recent ‘converts’ to the Vegetarian life-style, but all of whom believe that a large part of our health and general well-being is determined by what we eat and how we obtain it, i.e. whether we grow it or buy it.

Whether you are a Vegetarian or not, one has to acknowledge that the agricultural practices of the western world are designed to produce meat in huge quantities using unsustainable methods. This is one of, if not the biggest challenge facing mankind, and one of the most difficult to address, but the vegetarians are already halfway there and the future of our beautiful, but fragile planet depends entirely on sustainability in farming and changing our eating habits.

Read more…

I had heard this many times: “In Basque country, you eat and drink very well.”  To put this to the test, I packed my bag in mid June and headed to San Sebastián in Northern Spain.

Before my departure, I did have my doubts.  Because of Vinexpo, which happens every two years in June in Bordeaux, I had been frequently travelling to this part of Europe during this period of time.  But I didn’t have any luck in visiting the coastal cities by the Atlantic Ocean without a rain jacket; it had always been very wet and windy.  However, it all changed this time; the weather was perfect when I arrived in San Sebastián. No rain, not even a drop during my entire stay!

Read more…

Located in the south-eastern part of Italy, Puglia (or Apulia) is an undiscovered gem for wine lovers. The name Puglia originates from the Roman “a-pluvia,” which means “lack of rain,” and this is a region with a very long history of civilisation dating back to the 8^th century BC, when the Messapians arrived here.  Beautiful coastline, ever-presenting sunshine, clear blue sky and abundant wine, Puglia is ideal for wine lovers; no wonder in 2013, Wine Spectator nominated Puglia as one of the 10 best wine travel destinations in the world.

Read more…

An introduction by Robert Jarman

I have known Sarah Willes, since before she started BLUES AGENCY in 1978, and can confirm that she has always taken her cooking very seriously, and takes a great personal pride in everything she does, so it is no surprise to me that her Agency is still thriving 36 years later, and her client list reads like a Who’s Who of the West End, and the City.

Read more…

The Vintage Magazine is delighted to introduce a new business member, Caroline Nickerson’s company, ‘Cherry Picked Coffee’ which specialises in producing the finest Arabica coffee, and to celebrate, she is kindly offering our readers a special discount on their first order (see below)

Caroline explains what inspired her:

‘Having recently set up a speciality coffee business, born from a childhood love of coffee, a whole new world of flavours and aromas has opened up to me and they are very different from the smell and taste of the ‘Italian’ coffee my mother used to brew in our 70s percolator at home.

Read more…