Honest Grapes: Blending wine with theatre

Wine retailer Honest Grapes has teamed up with theatre company Revels in Hand to mix virtual performances with wine tastings, writes Peter Ranscombe. SO MANY aspects of our lives have gone online during the past year. The trips to the virtual pub; the frustrations of online grocery shopping; the video calls instead of “just popping…

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Leeuwin and the ‘art’ of wine

Outdoor concerts and a vast art gallery don’t overshadow the quality of Leeuwin Estate’s wine, as Peter Ranscombe reports. MAKING wine is a blend of art and of science. There are the facts and the figures – measuring the ripeness of grapes in Brix or Baumé, controlling the temperature of the fermentation in Celsius or…

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Four Corners of Scotland charity whisky tasting event

The Scottish Licensed Trade Association is organising a very special, hybrid, whisky tasting event later this month. It is taking place April 28 at 7.30pm in collaboration with Scotland’s newest whisky club, 1775 Whisky Passport and the award-winning bar and restaurant, the Mercat Grill in East Lothian. All proceeds will go to The Ben, the…

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Just a handful of lodges remain at Balloch Park

Just five custom built, sustainable timber lodges remain for sale in a Scottish country estate. Mains of Taymouth Country Estate at Kenmore has announced that it only has five of its luxury timber lodges left for sale in the second phase at Balloch Park, its residential, buy to let and holiday home development. Priced from…

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Huge sales rise thanks to virtual drinks events

A Scots distillery has seen online sales increase by 250% over the past year, thanks to the success of their virtual drinks experiences. When COVID hit in March 2020, the Stirling Distillery tour, shop and gin school were all temporarily closed, so the business had to rethink its approach and fast. Founders June and Cameron…

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Aye Write book festival moves online in May

The Aye Write book festival will this year deliver a diverse, digital programme of events over two weekends in May. Running from May 14-16 and May 21-23 May, Aye Write is Glasgow’s Book Festival and is produced by Glasgow Life, the charity which delivers culture and sport in the city. The live book festival, usually…

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Lanzarote: The grapes that grow in lava

Peter Ranscombe pens a very personal reflection on wines from the Canaries’ most unusual island. LET me start with a confession – I’m biased horrendously when it comes to Lanzarote. In fact, I promised myself I would never write an article about the island and its wines in this blog. Selfishly, I wanted to keep…

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What’s the craic with Beer 52’s Irish craft ales?

Peter Ranscombe joins drinks website Beer 52 for a virtual road trip around the island of Ireland’s breweries. FEW countries are associated as closely with a single drink as Ireland and stout. Guinness flows through Dublin’s veins, and few beers can claim to match its global brand recognition. Yet Ireland also has a thriving craft…

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Lockdown lamb II: Last-minute libations

As Maundy Thursday approaches, Peter Ranscombe picks wines from local stores and further afield to serve with your Easter lamb. PERHAPS this year more than any other, Easter feels full of hope. “Stay at home” is about to become “Stay local” on Good Friday. Hairdressers will reopen on Monday – goodbye, mullet – and garden…

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Bumblebee trust asks people to Bee the Change

The Stirling-based Bumblebee Conversation Trust is on a mission to help everyone Bee the Change in their local area, with a new campaign asking people across the UK to take simple, quick micro-actions to make their postcode more bumblebee-friendly. Bumblebees are familiar and much-loved insects that pollinate our crops and wildflowers. But bumblebees are in…

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