The Winery Andre Fayol of Languedoc of Languedoc-Roussillon

Layers of colour in the sky before me: indigo, peach, salmon. In the rear-view mirror, the gold was catching fire. As I drove down through the lonely, Mistral-chilled vines of Babeau-Bouldoux towards nearby St-Chinian, I was thinking about what Christine Deleuze of Clos Bagatelle had just said. ‘When you came to visit 10 years ago,’ she reminded me, ‘you said we needed to wait another decade for a market breakthrough. Today you’ve said we need to wait another decade or two. So when, exactly, wil ...

Celebrities from all walks of fame are stepping into the wine world. Sports stars, actors, musicians and TV personalities are all jumping on the wine bandwagon, some owning vineyards and others getting more hands-on in the winemaking itself. This growing trend shows no sign of slowing with recent celebrities to launch their own wines including George Clooney, Gordon Ramsey and Gary Barlow. The Take That star follows in the footsteps of pop singer Kylie Minigue, who launched a successful range of ...

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 ...