Yeast - wild, cultured, genetically modified – by Jamie Goode
11 Aug 2006
A few months ago, I visited one of Australia’s leading small wineries at harvest time. A small open-top fermenter had been loaded with Shiraz the previous day: now, some 24 hours later, the must was already quite deeply coloured, but fermentation...

View issue Harpers 11 August 2006

Rising alcohol levels - discuss
11 Aug 2006
With the alcohol level of wines on a seemingly inexorable rise – led by the New World, but now increasingly driven by the Old World as well – the International Wine and Spirits Competition decided to hold a debate to discuss...

View issue Harpers 11 August 2006

Austrian wine - in the groove – by Dawn Cran
11 Aug 2006
What do most people think of when Austria comes up in conversation? Almost certainly Mozart and Viennese Opera, maybe Wiener Schnitzel, perhaps even mountainous ski resorts, but Austrian wine is unlikely to feature. This is no great surprise, considering that Austria...

View issue Harpers 11 August 2006

Boom time is over
28 Jul 2006
It was one of the UK’s more dubious exports: a fleet of white vans whose drivers’ total experience of our Gallic neighbour’s country was the short drive from the ferry terminal to a ‘pile-it-high’ cash-and-carry. ...

View issue 28 July 2006

The comeback kid
27 Jul 2006
Sherry is making a comeback! These are the words the Sherry Institute and the gang from Jerez have been trying to put on the UK street for the past decade, and still the fight goes on. ...

View issue 28 July 2006

Keeping the peace
26 Jul 2006
It’s 10pm on a Friday night. The bar is packed and a client slurs ‘three large vodkas’ to the bartender. Serving the group will take them to dangerously high levels of alcohol, but saying ‘no’ will antagonise them, and in the...

View issue 28 July 2006

THE INTERVIEW – Alan Burns
21 Jul 2006
The Wild Bergamot Restaurant & Lounge 1 Hillhead Street Milngavie Glasgow G62 8AF Scotland Tel: www.thewildbergamot.co.uk After ten years as an army chef, Alan Burns worked in several five-star hotels and Michelin-starred restaurants before opening his own place...

View issue Harpers 21 July 2006

Distance Selling
21 Jul 2006
Distance selling is not a recent innovation in the wine trade. Years ago, the lord of the manor would have asked his butler to contact his local wine merchant and place an order. And then, some time later, a coach and...

View issue Harpers 21 July 2006

South West France – A Sense of Unity
21 Jul 2006
At a time when France is under attack for the lack of a cohesive approach to the problems it has in many of its major wine appellations, it’s good to be able to report on a region where disparate factions have...

View issue Harpers 21 July 2006

Transports of Delight
13 Jul 2006
There are so many ways to answer this question that it is a struggle to know where to begin. But let's start with the most animal instinct of all: self-preservation. And let's start not with consumers, but with retailers. ...

View issue Harpers 14 July 2006