The flavor of smoke in wine of Crete

The dark days began when I learned from a visiting Canadian friend about the death of one of the kindest, most gentle and most skilful Pinot winemakers I’ve known, Paul Pender of Tawse Winery. He died in a senseless and tragic act of violence on the evening of 3 February, outside his Lake Erie cottage. A stranger, subsequently charged with his murder, had (it seems) knocked on his door, asking for help. Paul’s sudden, untimely loss has left his family, and the broader Canadian wine community, di ...

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 ...

Frost returned to French vineyards early this month as France recorded its coldest April night since 1947. Temperatures plunged to minus nine degrees Celsius in some parts of the Champagne region on the night between 3 and 4 April, with minus seven reported in areas around Bordeaux and minus six in Chablis. Some winemakers lit candles and fires between vineyard rows to help protect young buds. Yet while scenes were reminiscent of the devastating frosts that struck French vineyards in April 2021, ...