Eat, drink, sleep, repeat: London’s best dog-friendly restaurants March 26, 2025 Last week Franco Manca announced that they have become ‘dog friendly’. This a welcome turnaround for the restaurant group that turned away a guide dog from one of their venues in 2018. Fortunately, this shameful incident led to my meeting with Dave Kent, the blind gentleman who required his trusty friend Chad to lead him [...]
Libby’s Naked Wines diary: I visit Oxford’s trendy new rooftop March 26, 2025 This week in Libby’s Naked Wines diary, our wine columnist visits Oxford Simon Drake glides up to me in a jacket that looks and feels like he has skinned the Velveteen Rabbit. Indeed, it is so soft I pause for just longer than is potentially acceptable to stroke his velvety arm – before he gently [...]
Hannes Myburgh’s Meerlust Estate is wine tasting paradise March 18, 2025 Meerlust Rubicon was the first wine I bought en primeur. This is the process of buying wine while it is still aging, ahead of it coming to market. It means securing sought-after bottles at potentially lower prices while the winemakers receive an early cash flow. I felt very grown up and sophisticated and rather lucky [...]
Alcohol-shy Gen Z and erratic weather hits global vineyards March 5, 2025 Changing tastes and a hotter climate have made the future of global vineyards uncertain and unpredictable, according to a new report. With global wine consumption down 12 per cent from its 2007 peak and erratic weather making many sites untenable, few vineyards remain unscathed, according to Knight Frank’s annual wealth report. In France, “only about [...]
International Women’s Day: The future of women in wine March 3, 2025 This International Women’s Day, I caught up with Queena Wong, a wine enthusiast who is helping to reshape the industry for the better Queena Wong has become a controversial character in wine after spearheading the first UK Women in Wine Survey. According to marketing research agency PROOF Insight, 78 per cent of the women who [...]
Why Tasmania is Australia’s overlooked wine destination February 26, 2025 It was only four years ago I was served a glass of House of Arras, an exceptional sparkling wine, full of crystalline precision and refined fizz. I was surprised to hear it was from Tasmania. Before then, I knew very little about wines from this region. London is the most exciting marketplace for wine in [...]
Billionaire ex-Tory treasurer ups Chapel Down stake after shares collapse February 24, 2025 The billionaire founder of city brokerage ICAP, Lord Michael Spencer, has upped his stake in English wine maker Chapel Down. The former treasurer of the Conservative party serves as a non-executive director of the Kent-headquartered company and now holds a 27.3 per cent stake. The increase comes after Lord Spencer bought 50,000 ordinary shares at [...]
When drinking wine can actually be good for you February 18, 2025 At a recent event, a gentleman humbly recounted a story to me. He had been boasting of his impressive collection of Chateauneuf du Pape to a wine merchant, but upon revealing the vintages, he was dismayed to be told that all these prized bottles would now be past their best and he should have drunk [...]
Kitchen Table’s Sandia Chang: chilled, light red wine is big right now February 3, 2025 Kitchen Table is the Michelin starred Fitzrovia dining experience where guests sit around a horseshoe-shaped bar within close reach of the chefs. James Knappett’s team prepares the food and his wife Sandia Chang manages the drinks. Here Chang tells us about the alcohol (and booze-free) drinks on her mind. Read more: ‘Men stop behaving like [...]
Virgin Wines: ‘A decent Christmas was needed and delivered’ January 29, 2025 Virgin Wines delivered a strong Christmas trading performance and outperformed the wider market, although revenue remained flat year on year. Revenue increased by 6.7 per cent year-on year during the six weeks to 27 December, 2024, the company told markets this morning. Sales rose nine per cent in December 2024 versus December 2023, reaching the highest level since the Covid-19 lockdowns, [...]