Category Archives: Books

The Bluffer’s Guide to Wine

Posted on 28/02/2013 by

‘Tea and toasted buttered currant buns, can’t compensate for lack of sun’                              The Kinks, Autumn Almanac Perhaps tea and buns can’t help us through the winter but … Continue reading →

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The Breakfast Bible

Posted on 10/02/2013 by

In 2005 a meeting was held somewhere in Kentish Town or perhaps Peckham that would reverberate down the ages. The meeting was chaired by a shadowy figure known only as Malcolm Eggs. His aim was to fight mediocre breakfasts within the … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Recipes | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Pass me the cooking Barolo

Posted on 30/12/2012 by

My wife* is reading a book called Angelina’s Bachelors by Brian O’ Reilly. It’s billed as ‘a novel with food’ because it contains recipes by his wife or maybe mother, Virginia O’ Reilly. One in particular caught my eye, ‘Gorgonzola Beef … Continue reading →

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Book Review: How to Love Wine by Eric Asimov

Posted on 15/12/2012 by

People who aren’t interested in cooking read Nigel Slater, just as people who can’t even drive watch Top Gear, but so far no one has managed to score an equivalent success with wine. Most wine books are bought by those we can politely … Continue reading →

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The Wild Bunch by Patrick Matthews

Posted on 16/07/2012 by

This is the second half of an article that appeared in Slightly Foxed magazine last year. Click on Lynch’s book for the first part. Kermit Lynch’s book, Adventures on the Wine Route, surveys a depressing 1980s landscape of French producers … Continue reading →

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Book review: Drink Me! How to Choose, Taste and Enjoy Wine by Matt Walls

Posted on 08/07/2012 by

My music teacher at school used to say that to play the piano as badly as Les Dawson, you have to be a great pianist. Matt Walls reminds me a little of Dawson, not physically of course, but in order … Continue reading →

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Wine and crime

Posted on 29/06/2012 by

The novel A Long Finish by Michael Dibdin focuses on a grudge between two families of vignerons in Piedmont. Though I can’t recall the plot in any detail, there’s a murder (obviously), something about access to land for truffle-hunting and … Continue reading →

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Book review: Naked Wine by Alice Feiring

Posted on 17/09/2011 by

The concept of ‘naked’ or ‘natural’ wine is best understood by what it is a reaction to. On my honeymoon a couple of years ago my wife and I stopped at a winery in the Napa Valley. There was a … Continue reading →

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Michael Hodges – a great London boozer

Posted on 12/07/2011 by

Look beyond the expected guides to city life and you will be pleasantly surprised to find that Time Out has some rather good writers. One in particular stands out, Michael Hodges. For years Michael Hodges has chronicled London life through his weekly column, ‘Slice of … Continue reading →

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Tasting notes from the Languedoc

Posted on 30/03/2011 by

In Andrew Barr’s provocative book, Wine Snobbery, (a book that really needs a whole post) published many years ago he refers to the narcissism of wine writers who publish their tasting notes. For Mr Barr they should be used only … Continue reading →

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