The Winery J. Monfleury of Crémant de Bourgogne of Burgundy

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 ...

Jon Wyand has been crowned Errazuriz Wine Photographer of the Year after impressing the judges with his beautiful shot of a Burgundian vineyard worker gathering prunings. The photograph was taken on a crisp winter’s day at Montagne de Corton Hill in the Côte de Beaune. ‘The winning image evokes with stark beauty the reality of wine growing – you are always at the mercy of nature,’ said wine writer Joanna Simon, one of the judges. ‘But there’s an extra element here: is he scruti ...

Anecdotal evidence suggests that sales decreased significantly compared to the previous year, with volume and value sales down by as much as 60% in a few cases. In some instances, sales of usually bankable wines crashed to almost zero, according to the merchants that Liv-Ex polled. ‘Yet again, many buyers and collectors have had to ask what purpose the time-consuming event serves when it delivers such pitiful revenue, and who precisely it is for when it offers little compelling value,’ said Liv- ...