Wine
de Burgh Wine Merchants delivers restaurant quality at home
WHEN the hospitality industry was shut down in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, de Burgh Wine Merchants was faced with losing 95% of its business overnight. Such a seismic shock provided the catalyst to accelerate the company’s plans to expand its web shop and home delivery service. “People have been drinking our wines for…
Read MoreRound the world in 10 bank holiday rosés
With a bank holiday weekend dawning and – whisper it – decent weather forecast for Friday, Peter Ranscombe takes a whistle-stop world tour of rosé wine. FOLLOWING on from our last look at pink wines back in May, it feels like the right time to put on some rosé-tinted specs ahead of the early August bank…
Read MoreWINE TO DINE – AUGUST 2020 – BARBECUE
Scottish Field wine columnist Peter Ranscombe fires off five brilliant bottles for barbecues. I DON’T mind admitting that my mouth was watering when I read John Barclay’s barbecue recipes. Although I’m a bit of a woose when it comes to outdoor cooking – I’ve been known to grill sausages and burgers indoors before finishing them off…
Read MoreWinemaker’s love of Scotland shines during online tasting
Peter Ranscombe enjoys three great-value South African wines while hearing what their maker would serve alongside them. THE Co-op in Melrose is perhaps the last place you’d expect to find a South African winemaker – but Alastair Rimmer has an affinity for the Borders. The cellar master at Kleine Zalze winery enjoys fishing on the…
Read MoreIndulging in restaurant fizz at home
As indoor restaurants and other hospitality businesses get ready to reopen from 15 July, Peter Ranscombe ponders some food and wine pairing for a lockdown treat at home. SOMETIMES a particular grape variety or a style of wine will strike a chord with sommeliers. Riesling is a classic example; beloved by the trade, but never…
Read MoreWelcome to the ‘lollipop vineyard’
While South Africa may have a strong reputation for its old vines, that isn’t stopping farmers from planning for the future, as Peter Ranscombe discovers. WHEN you see the phrase “old vines” on a label, it can mean dramatically different things in different places. On a remote hillside in Australia or Spain or the Languedoc…
Read MoreMeet the paper wine bottle coming to Scotland…
Peter Ranscombe ponders a cardboard wine bottle that’s been launched today – and revisits the wine inside. I ALWAYS feel more than a wee bit guilty on recycling day. As the blue box is lugged off the pavement and its contents heaved into the back of the bin lorry, I pause and think about the…
Read MoreEnglish Wine Week: If you like that, try this…
In the final article in his English Wine Week series, Peter Ranscombe takes your favourite styles of wine and finds an English alternative. WITH the names of weird-sounding grape varieties galore appearing on its labels – ranging from bacchus, otega and seyval blanc through to regent, rondo and dornfelder – English wine can sometimes feel like…
Read MoreEnglish Wine Week: The Welsh side of the story
In the penultimate installment in his series of articles for English Wine Week, Peter Ranscombe casts an eye over Welsh wines. IT MAY be called “English Wine Week” but this month’s celebration of all things vinous also includes vineyards and wineries in Wales. National identity is a minefield at the best of times within the UK’s…
Read MoreEnglish Wine Week: Urban wineries
Stretching from Gateshead to London, England has a growing urban winery scene, writes Peter Ranscombe in his latest English Wine Week article. WHEN you think of a winery, it’s natural to form a mental image of the sun-drenched rolling hills of France or Spain or Italy. Tyneside isn’t perhaps the first place that springs to…
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