Why the French are clueless about wine: Confessions of a British wine columnist in France Paperback (Dec, 2020)

How is man boobs a wine fault? How can you spot a fake wine? Will China be making the world's greatest wines soon? How do you spot a good wine list? And choose well from a bad one? Are medals worth anything? What should you drink at 35,000 feet? Why is wine writing dull? Are wine gadgets just Plenty O'Toole? What's boring about Victoria Moore? And how can you learn all you need to know about wine?

These entertaining, offbeat columns on wine culture (from three years as columnist at France's The Connexion newspaper) tell you all you need to know about choosing, enjoying, and talking about wine - and how to avoid the wines you shouldn't be drinking. 

• 
  
• 
  
• Paperback : 138 pages
• ISBN-13 : 979-8687568340
• Dimensions : 5 x 0.32 x 8 inches
• Publisher : Independently published (November 14, 2020)
• ASIN : B08NDVJ63W
• Language: : English

A class of wine

IN THE SPIRIT of la rentrée scolaire, here is a class of wine. Pick a bottle. Inspect the label. If a year isn’t indicated, the wine was blended from several vintages. Pick another bottle. Who made, bottled and/or commercialised the wine: a merchant (négociant), a cooperative (cave coopérative), or an artisan (vigneron indépendant)? Preferably, the same person should make, bottle and commercialise a wine. If the wine has a screwcap or a plastic cork, make sure it is not over a year old. Decanting does not soften tannins, but it helps to dissipate sulphite aromas; so you should decant a young wine longer than an old wine. Now, pour the wine...

Full article first published in The Connexion (September 2011)