Wine to Dine – September 2021 – Street Food

Street food produces some exciting drinks pairings from Scottish Field wine columnist Peter Ranscombe. INNOVATION is at the heart of the dishes produced by Scotland’s street-food vendors. They take familiar ingredients and weave their magic – often in a portacabin or a trailer – to produce dishes that make you go “wow”. Winemakers – and…

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Rosé for the bank holiday

Rosé wine will brighten up your bank holiday, even if the weather doesn’t play ball, writes Peter Ranscombe. AFTER this week’s thunder storms brought an end to July’s glorious heatwave, who knows what the weather will do over the bank holiday weekend? Come rain or shine, rosé will still be the order of the day…

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Just 1200 bottles of Dewar’s anniversary blend

A limited edition bottling of Dewar’s blended Scotch whisky – the ‘175 Blend’ – is now available as a pre-order. Set to sell out fast with only 175 cases (1,200 bottles) available, the launch comes as Dewar’s owner, Bacardi, marks the 175th anniversary of Perthshire-born Scotch whisky pioneer, John Dewar, opening his wine and spirits…

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Lidl goes back to the future with French wine tour

Tomorrow’s Lidl wine tour promotion features French classics you may have forgotten, writes Peter Ranscombe. DON’T you just hate it when a tune gets stuck in your heid? I’ve been humming the theme to Back to the Future since getting a sneak peak at some of the wines in Lidl’s latest wine tour promotion, which…

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Franciacorta: Enjoying fizz throughout the meal

Franciacorta makes sparkling wines that can be served with a range of foods, as Peter Ranscombe reports. BEFORE I visited Franciacorta back in 2017, I always wondered whether sparkling wines from the region would be a one-trick pony. After all, the area sits at the foot of Lake Iseo and so I assumed the only…

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GlenAllachie unveils its first-ever rum release

The GlenAllachie Distillers Company is unveiling its first-ever rum as their MacNair’s brand is repositioned as a Boutique House of Spirits. MacNair’s Boutique House of Spirits will comprise both their brand new small-batch rum line named Exploration Rum, and the new-look Lum Reek Blended Malt Scotch Whisky. The Exploration Rum sub-brand sees master blender Billy…

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Jean Leon: Drinking wine like Hollywood royalty

The legend of restaurateur and winery owner Jean Leon lives on under the watchful eye of the Torres family, writes Peter Ranscombe. SOMETIMES the very thing for which you’re looking is sitting right under your nose. Jean Leon emigrated from Spain to America with dreams of starring in Hollywood films. Yet he returned to his…

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Tigerlily keeps Belvedere’s organic infusions fresh

Cocktails designed by Tigerlily are being served on its new Belvedere Organic Infusions terrace in Edinburgh, as Peter Ranscombe finds out. WILL Edinburgh’s George Street finally be pedestrianised? After years of talk, it looks like the New Town thoroughfare may finally be turned into a European-style boulevard if the city council’s proposals go ahead. Sitting…

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Tenuta Sette Cieli: Winemaking without a recipe

Tenuta Sette Cieli winemaker Elena Pozzolini doesn’t follow a recipe in the vineyard or the cellar, writes Peter Ranscombe. WHAT separates a chef from a cook? An inexperienced cook like myself has to follow a recipe line by line to make sure that the same risotto or carbonara or Bolognese appears every time. A chef,…

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Steve Daniel: Finding wines off the beaten track

Steve Daniel, a buyer at wine importer Hallgarten, is sharing hidden gems from Georgia, Lebanon, and North Macedonia, writes Peter Ranscombe. FEW words make a wine writer’s heart leap like “off the beaten track”. In a world full of pinot grigio and Prosecco, cabernet sauvignon and sauvignon blanc, it’s nice to lift your eyes to…

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