Some films watched en route to NZ. Zombieland is just brilliant. One of the funniest films I’ve seen in a long time. It’s a spoof zombie romp that’s just perfectly…
Chilling in Changi: Rule 32, enjoy the little things
Singapore’s Changi airport totally rocks! Since I was here last year it has got even better. I”ve got a few hours here before heading onwards and upwards to Auckland. So…
A thought experiment: is wine just what is in the glass?
Imagine you were a synthetic chemist, smitten with wine. You tried a great Burgundy, and you simply couldn’t get this wine out of your mind. Sadly, your salary as a…
A great day’s cricket
Spent the day playing cricket. Wine Trade vs. Hampshire Hogs, down at their beautiful ground in Warnford. Last year we beat them narrowly (report here). So would we repeat the…
Ladybirds
Recently spotted on my vines, a couple of different ladybird species. Above we have the kidney spot ladybird, Chilocorus renipustulatus. It’s welcome: it eats scale insects such as mealybugs. Below,…
Tasting a sample of wine sort of sucks
Don’t get me wrong. I love big tastings where you get a chance to taste lots of wine. It’s an incredible opportunity for a wine writer to be able to…
At Wimbledon, drinking fizz and watching The Fed
Had a super day’s fun at Wimbledon today. Hospitality courtesy of Champagne Lanson saw a troop of wine press gather on a perfect day for tennis, including Tim Atkin, Anthony…
Flowering has started and the hats are coming off
Flowering has started on my Pinot Noir vines. You’ll see that some of the flowers have emerged; others still have their caps on. These browning caps can cause botrytis later…
The England football team…
…are staying in the Vineyard Hotel in Newlands, Cape Town. I checked by blog and found out that I stayed there back in November 2005 (entry is on this page,…