The Wine Detectives

Wine fraud is a big issue. It also makes for a fascinating story. So I was thrilled to be able to explore the topic in a recent BBC Radio 4 documentary called The Wine Detectives. (Click on the link to find the original 28-minute programme...

Fierce Beer Imperial Café Racer Porter

Fierce Beer Imperial Café Racer Porter, Scotland, 8.5% (£3.49 per bottle, Fierce Beer)  We thoroughly enjoyed this great little brew on Saturday Kitchen alongside some delicious chocolate brownies. It's actually a coffee and vanilla porter - so a dark beer but with lots of richness to it. This...

Ara Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2016

Ara Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2016, New Zealand, 12.5% (£10.59 but down to £7.94 on multi buy, Waitrose)  We are big fans of chef Freddy Forster in this household. He's not only a lovely man but also a brilliant cook - witness his utterly delicious, dangerously moreish Saturday...

English sparkling wine moves on

After Susie helped plant the first vines on Champagne Taittinger's brand new English wine estate in May 2017, she reflects in the pages of Decanter on how far and fast the category has moved on. From being an emergent category just a decade or so ago,...

Domaine du Vieux Vauvert Vouvray 2016

Domaine du Vieux Vauvert Vouvray 2016, France (£9.99, Waitrose or via Wine Searcher)  First things first: this is not a dry wine! There. Glad we got that one out of the way. But it's important to say because there's nothing worse than expecting something to be dry when...

In An English Vineyard

In the 1970s, a French customs official famously declared that English wine simply did 'not exist'. How times change. From a meagre total of around 1,500 bottles in the mid-1960s, English wine production now averages around five million bottles, with a national vineyard of some 2,000 hectares....

The Austrian Bubble

From Champagne to Prosecco, even English sparkling wine, it seems we just can't get enough of fizz. And as our thirst for the bubbly stuff grows, it's starting to throw a spotlight on the lesser known fizz-producing parts of the world. Like Austria. Susie visited the country...