Winery Tiansai Vineyards (新疆天塞酒庄)Reserve

He was 23 at the time, making his first steps with the family company, unknown in the UK; I was 31 and trying to get a new career going. I met him in Portugal; he became my first wine friend. I got to know his family, and he mine; we learned and explored together. His father Rolf ran the business – effectively; though he seemed more interested in his collections of corkscrews, antique firearms and American cars than in wine. Dirk’s flat was full of old typewriters. Ceramic frogs covered every av ...

They were scheduled to visit Paris and Bordeaux in March, but the trip had to be postponed after protests over the French government’s pension reforms turned violent. The three-day state visit can now finally proceed as planned, so the royals will be greeted with a remembrance ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe today (Wednesday). After laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, King Charles will process down the Champs-Elysées to the presidential palace for one-on-one talks with President ...

Annual domestic gas bills in the UK threaten to rival, in craziness, the price of a box of Bordeaux first growths. Those energy costs have sent the price of almost everything else ripping up after them. Is there, um, anything to be said for cheap wine? There is. First, though, we must sip the bitter harvest of alcohol taxes. These are high in the UK and higher still in Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand and India; they tend to vary by state in the US and by province in Canada, and in general th ...