Tomatin offers the new French Collection

Tomatin is whisking budding whisky connoisseurs to France from the comfort of their sofas with the launch of a four-part digital series to celebrate the release of The French Collection. This is a limited release collection exhibiting the unique influence imparted by different French wine and spirits casks during maturation. The content series has been…

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Holyrood Distillery: A ‘rude’ reawakening in the courtyard

Holyrood Distillery has created a ‘sipping gin’ that’s ideal for its reopened courtyard, as Peter Ranscombe discovers. IN A world with more and more gin, it’s becoming harder and harder to find anything that stands out from the crowd. Yet Holyrood Distillery may have just cracked it. The Edinburgh whisky maker set out to create…

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Why South Africa’s wines are ageworthy

Peter Ranscombe gets a sneaky peak at bottles from South Africa going under the hammer at the Cape Fine & Rare Wine Auction. FEW wine-making countries have such a dual persona in Scottish shops as South Africa. Look in a supermarket and South African bottles are often regulated to the bargain basement shelves. Yet delve…

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Sauvignon blanc day: 9 to try

To mark international sauvignon blanc day, Peter Ranscombe reviews examples from Chile, New Zealand, and South Africa. TIME after time, sauvignon blanc keeps topping the charts as the UK’s favourite white wine. Just before the pandemic, Majestic Wine was the latest retailer to shine a light on the grape’s phenomenal success. Sauvignon was its best-selling…

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Exclusive new drams from Bunnahabhain Distillery

Islay’s Bunnahabhain Distillery has announced an exciting Fèis at Home programme, opening its virtual doors once again and this year. This will give fans their first chance to meet Brendan McCarron who has been officially appointed as master distiller for Distell’s single malt and blended Scotch portfolio. Bunnahabhain has released a collection of limited edition…

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Wine to Dine – June 2021 – The Harbour Café

Scottish Field wine columnist Peter Ranscombe scours the hills and shores for five bottles to take to the harbour. AS SPRING segues into summer, there’s no better time to visit the coast – or The Harbour Café at Elie, in Fife, which stars in the food feature in June’s issue of Scottish Field magazine. Being…

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7 of the best rosés for your bank holiday weekend

If you’re looking for rosés ahead of the May Day bank holiday then Peter Ranscombe has you covered. IS IT really a year since our #stayathome review of rosés? While I’m not counting my sunshine-flapping chickens just yet – especially not for the bank holiday itself – there’s definitely more optimism in the air as…

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Eden Mill: what happens when gin meets wine?

Eden Mill distillery has aged its latest gins in red wine and white wine casks, as Peter Ranscombe discovers. MAKING gin is – relatively – easy. As long as your spirit tastes of juniper then it’s job done, as far as the labelling gods are concerned. But making your gin stand out from the ever-growing…

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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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Exton Park: Tasting the future of English sparkling wine?

Has Corinne Seely created ‘an English Bollinger’ at Exton Park, asks Peter Ranscombe. MOST English winemakers are faced with a simple choice. Make a “vintage” wine labeled with the year in which all the grapes were harvested. Or create a “non-vintage” blend by mixing a small amount of previous years’ wines – “reserve” wines –…

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