Wines made from Primitivo grapes of Texas High Plains

I’d like to say we took advantage of the lockdown and its related commotion to do a stock-take, explore new avenues, turn over intriguing stones, widen and deepen our drinking, taking careful notes as we went. Sadly, no. I won’t say we got stuck in a rut, but we did tend to stick with comfort wines – and “comfort”, in our case, means familiar. Regular readers of this quarterly column can probably guess the labels on the resulting empties. We have a wider range of comfort foods, I’m afraid, than ...

On 19 September 2021, the Cumbre Vieja volcanic ridge in the island of La Palma, Spain began a massive, three-month long eruption, that was a catastrophic event for this westward island in the Canarias. The volcanic fumes caused breathing problems as well as the cancellation of flights and fruit harvests, including grapes. Despite 7,000 people needing evacuation from the flow of the lava, there was only one fatality during the entire eruption. As the lava flow eventually covered over 1,000ha, mo ...

The authorities have charged Casey Alexander, who lives in the UK, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He is accused of running three companies – Windsor Jones, Charles Winn and Vintage Whisky Casks – which obtained the phone numbers of elderly Americans and cold-called them. Investigators said the companies used ‘aggressive and deceptive tactics’ to convince people to wire them money, promising them huge returns. Windsor Jones’ website, which lists the company’s address as Wilmington, D ...