I didn’t mention the war but I think I got away with it
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Drinking Culture
A newsletter about alcohol, culture and history.
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Latest posts
Transvestites and Tavel: Drilling for Wine by Robin Yapp
A look at one of the most idiosyncratic wine books ever published, Robin Yapp's memoir.
In praise of French supermarkets
The joy of drinking ordinary wine on holiday. Plus a review of a lost classic: ‘Wine Dynasties of Europe’ by Harry Eyres.
Blowing hot and cold with cocktails
I have a drinks cabinet that would make F. Scott Fitzgerald weak at the knees but most evenings, I’ll just uncork a bottle of wine.
Alcohol is civilisation
“We should not fail to notice the conspicuous absence of kimchi-or-yoghurt-based super-cultures.”
Expensive wine with cheap food
It’s the trend that’s sweeping the nation… apparently. Plus a new Critic wine club.
The world's best cinsault is....
Five years on, Cin City is back! South Africa takes on France for the title of best cinsault in the world.
The Wild Bunch by Patrick Matthews revisited
‘The couple personified the romance of wine. They were young 1980s people (something you could tell from Olivier coloured-framed specs a la early Jancis Robinson) and they’d seized the moment.’
How cheap is too cheap?
Thoughts on some ridiculously cheap wines from Aldi and what that means for the struggling independent trade.
Low alcohol sherry - just what the doctor ordered
Do you suffer from sherry legs? Well, I think I have found the answer.
Adventures on the Wine Route by Kermit Lynch revisited
'When a woman chooses a hat, she does not put it on a goat’s head to judge it; she puts it on her own.’
Stop trying to make non-alcoholic wine happen. It’s not going to happen
Drinks that are never going to break through plus England's greatest vineyard, Breaky Bottom, is on the market