The Winery Fouche-Lebrun of Pouilly-Fumé of Loire Valley

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 ...

The Champagne house expanded into the region when it acquired Maison Langlois-Chateau in Saumur back in 1973. It then bolstered its presence in Sancerre with the acquisition of Château de Thauvenay in 2016. Now it has tied up a deal to bring the family-run Hubert Brochard estate into the fold. ‘The acquisition of Hubert Brochard estate represents a unique opportunity to consolidate our footprint in this fantastic region and to continue to promote, in France and internationally, its savoir-faire ...

In the wake of the second destructive wave of the phylloxera bug in California in the 1980s and 1990s, Cabernet Sauvignon rose to such prominence and dominance (especially in Napa Valley) that I, like most people, assumed it must now be the most expensive grape variety in the state. Wrong. That would be Cabernet Franc. Top 20 California Cabernet Franc wines Slowly, steadily and quietly, Cabernet Sauvignon’s father has displaced its son* as the priciest grape to buy and the grape that is generati ...