I've gone and bought some more wine. I had been trying to cut down (and had been fairly successful), but in the last week I've succumbed. A tour of some central London merchants yielded a modest three-bottle purchase (an Emmerich Knoll 2002 GV from Selfridges, a Van Volxem Riesling from BBR and the 2003 Niepoort Vintage Port from Fortnum & Mason), but the biggest hit was a 16 bottle assortment from Grand Cru Wines. This is Liz and Mike Berry's Southern France-based operation specializing in high-end wines from Languedoc and Provence. I bought a couple of bottles of eight different wines from a sale email, including old Vouvray (ah, Chenin Blanc!), not so old Bandol and some smart Languedoc wines. Outside the classic Franch regions it's still possible to get world class wines without going bankrupt. Liz and Mike's old shop, La Vigneronne, on the old Brompton Road in South Kensington, still holds many good memories for its tastings, which were a major part of my wine life in the early days of wineanorak.