Summer Challenge Results 2017

The June issue of Scottish Field is on the shelves now, including the full results of this year’s Summer Whisky Challenge. The first stage in this year’s Scottish Field Whisky Challenge, our panel of eight judges sampled a total of 63 whiskies in order to determine the winners of the Summer Challenge – all of which…

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Lacorine: ethical luxury for any season

For winter or summer, Lacorine’s luxury alpaca clothing is perfect for any season.  Lacorine’s garments are designed by Antonia Valentin Jacob who grew up in an impoverished area of Lima. Peruvian artisans supply Antonia with the fur from alpacas which have died naturally in the harsh Peruvian winter climate, allowing the brand to support small…

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California Part 1: Finding a sense of place

PETER RANSCOMBE OAK can be a double-edged wooden sword in winemaking. At its best, it can impart aromas and flavours of vanilla and sweet spices like cinnamon and cloves, as well as bringing a rounded mouthfeel to a wine. At its worst, the oak can dominate, overpowering the primary fruit and leaving drinkers checking for tiny…

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California Part 3: Diversity in the winery and in the glass

PETER RANSCOMBE THINK you know Californian wines? Think again. They’re mostly white zinfandel or blush aren’t they, with some over-oaked and over-ripe chardonnays and cabernet sauvignons thrown in at the top end, right? Wrong. If California was a nation then it would be the world’s fourth-largest wine producer, behind Italy, France and Spain. That scale…

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Spring?…

Thursday May 26th..A fiercely cold wind at Hexham on Tuesday night but nothing like a winner to warm the heart and Daasij duly obliged in the 9pm; off late and run in fading light he quickened clear nicely turning in to prove his Newcastle success was no fluke, he may reappear at Cartmel on Monday…

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Storm…

Monday May 23rd..Fierce storm here today, best part of an inch of rain this morning an now gale force winds, horses all twice up the rather soggy all-weather.  Yesterday at Kelso Fleet Fox made a respectable enough racecourse debut in the bumper and will now have the summer (what summer?) to strengthen up, Lucy finished 3rd…

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Good result

Thursday May 19th…A quiet day on the yard with the 10 horses still in work all having a long hack on the flats, still breezy but a little milder.  I took Northern Flame to see renowned wind surgeon Geoff Lane and we made a plan for later in the summer; this horse has been disappointing this year, it’s…

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Farewell England…

So that’s it then I suppose, the Nats have it, a proper mandate and a(nother) referendum beckons, of course it won’t really mean the end of the Union, the people don’t want that, they just couldn’t bear to vote for potato head, who can blame them, and the LibDems were obviously in for a drubbing…

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Where next?

Tuesday May 3rd – April was a tremendous month for us and I am anxious to keep the ball rolling however the extraordinary weather continues so none of our 4 entries at Kelso tomorrow are running and our horses were also absent from the Lauderdale p2p on Sunday.  We have entries this weekend at Aspatria…

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Here we go…

Thursday April 28th… the big day at last, all season I have been hoping that we might be able to engineer a racecourse clash between brother Jamie and Lucy and Kit; I am absolutely delighted that barring last minute dramas (possible!) it will happen today in the 4.20 at Perth, the Champion Stayers Hunter Chase, when Kit rides Commercial…

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