The Winery Col del Sole of Conegliano-Valdobbiadene Prosecco of Vénétie

Tongue firmly in cheek, I sometimes define ‘wine consultant’ as ‘someone lacking employment who will work for whoever pays them’. Although meant in jest, the implied question is valid: just what does a wine consultant do? More importantly, in this age, when every assistant in a retail shop styles him- or herself a sales consultant, who would hire one? The short answer is this: a wine consultant is someone who advises wine lovers about their passion. He or she advises buyers on what to buy (and a ...

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 ...

In 2007, Frenchman Frédéric Albert founded the Compagnie de Transport Maritime à la Voile (CTMV) with the goal of decarbonising the wine industry. The firm managed to sail its 50m-vessel four times from France to Ireland, England and Canada, before going into liquidation as a consequence of the 2008 economic crisis. Despite the failure, Albert’s pioneering project was a sign for things to come. In 2013, Le Havre-based TransOceanic Wind Transport (TOWT) followed in CTMV’s footsteps sailing some 3 ...