The flavor of rubber in wine of Palestine

According to lifestyle and happiness guru Gretchen Rubin, you ‘bring your own weather to a picnic’. Ms Rubin, I’d suggest, has never shivered under a tree watching raindrops turn her fish-paste sandwich to mush because the weather forecast was wrong. There are, it’s safe to say, picnics and Picnics. It’s a term that takes in everything from a rubber baguette in a French ‘Aire’ off the Autoroute du Soleil to a four-course spread while listening to opera at Glyndebourne. What’s definitely true is ...

Described by Courvoisier as ‘daring’, ‘visionary’ and ‘a first-of-its-kind collaboration’, Courvoisier Mizunara was created by the house’s recently-retired maître de chai, Patrice Pinet, and Shinji Fukuyo, chief blender of Japanese whisky maker Suntory. The project dates back to 2015, when the president of Suntory visited Courvoisier at Jarnac shortly after Suntory took over Beam Global, the Cognac house’s then owner, in a deal worth US$16bn. Pinet expressed an interest in experimenting with miz ...

Christie’s said the Geneva-based sale, which included more than 400 bottles of Domaine Ponsot wines split into 261 lots, achieved a total of around CHF1.345m (almost £1.2m). All lots found buyers in the auction, held to mark Domaine Ponsot’s 150th anniversary, Christie’s said. Its results again highlight top Burgundy’s allure. The appeal of wines sourced direct from the Domaine may also have inspired strong bidding. Prior to the sale, Edwin Vos, head of Christie’s’ international wine ...