New Town flat offers everything you need in the heart of Edinburgh

A perfect two bedroom purpose built New Town flat is for sale in Edinburgh. This is a stunning first floor flat that has been beautifully renovated, in Dundas Street, at the heart of New Town, presented by Knight Frank. Classic Georgian proportions and period features have been cleverly combined with stylish contemporary design resulting in…

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Exploring vintage variation with Gallica

Peter Ranscombe explores how weather conditions can affect wines from vintage to vintage with Gallica winemaker Rosemary Cakebread. PICTURE California and it’s hard to escape images of the pier at Santa Monica or the sun-drenched beaches of Malibu, Newport and Venice. Yet head north from Los Angeles and it’s possible to explore how variations in…

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Not so ordinary claret

There’s nothing ‘ordinary’ about Berry Bros’ claret or many of the other affordable bottles of Bordeaux on the market, as Peter Ranscombe discovers. FEW drinks have such a strong association with Britain as claret, the nickname for red wines produced in Bordeaux. Once used to describe thin and light wines, the term now denotes any…

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Winter warmers from Sud de France

Looking for a fireside glass this December? Peter Ranscombe explores wines filled with the warmth of the South of France. FEW wine-growing regions ooze sunshine like the South of France; every glass of red feels like it’s bursting with the sun’s warming rays, while each glass of white brings back memories of the lapping waves…

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Yealands defies expectations with New Zealand’s classic varieties

Peter Ranscombe explores the diversity of styles of sauvignon blanc and pinot noir from New Zealand with Yealands’ senior winemaker, Natalie Christensen. Everyone knows New Zealand sauvignon blanc, don’t they? It’s full of gooseberry flavours and paint-stripping acidity, right? If that’s the assumption then it’s time for a rethink. Although the classic Kiwi style certainly…

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Scottish distillery releases the country’s first absinthe

A Scottish distillery is producing what is thought to be the first absinthe created in the country. The Lost Loch Distillery has launched Murmichan, which uses Scottish ingredients such as mint and bramble leaves, heather flower and willow herb honey Based on traditional Swiss absinthe, Murmichan uses these natural botanicals for both flavouring and colouring…

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Enjoying the character of Bolney’s pinot noir

Peter Ranscombe gets a rare chance to compare four vintages of English pinot noir from the Bolney Estate in Sussex. DRINKING the same bottle of supermarket wine week after week can sometimes make it easy to forget how much the taste of a wine can vary from year to year. Big producers will blend wine…

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California wine fair highlights

Ahead of a fundraising event on Sunday for the wildfire relief efforts, Peter Ranscombe looks back at some of his highlights from the recent California wine fair. IT’S always hard when you see images of smoke and flames engulfing people’s homes. The wildfires that have swept through Northern California over the past fortnight have claimed…

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Rhone Part 1: Syrah’s spiritual home

The Crozes-Hermitage area of the Northern Rhone produces only a single red grape variety, but Peter Ranscombe finds out just how varied its Syrah can be. “Syrah loves a view” – or so French winemaker Jean-Louis Chave once said. In the Crozes-Hermitage region in France’s Rhone valley, those grapes are spoiled for choice when it…

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Searching for regionality in English sparkling wine

To mark the start of English wine week tomorrow, Peter Ranscombe ponders whether it’s possible to spot regional identity in the country’s sparkling wines ASK a connoisseur of Champagne about their favourite bottles and more likely than not they’ll start waxing lyrical about the different areas that make up the famous French sparkling wine region.…

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