I have just been watching Lost Horizon, the 1937 Frank Capra movie. It is a delightful film - beautifully shot, charmingly acted - and it has prompted much rumination on my part.

It tells the story of a group of travellers in Asia, led by a dashing British soldier-philosopher played by Ronald Colman. As they escape a violent insurrection in China, their plane is hijacked. Eventually they crash-land in the remote Himalayan valley of Shangri-La. Read the rest of this entry »

Is Talbot slain, the Frenchmen’s only scourge,
Your kingdom’s terror and black Nemesis?
O, were mine eyeballs into bullets turn’d,
That I in rage might shoot them at your faces!

Shakespeare, Henry VI Part 1

Once upon a time a sizeable chunk of France lay in English hands, and it was the task of John Talbot, First Earl of Shrewsbury, to keep it that way. The old boy was good at his job. He won more than forty battles and in the process killed many revolting Frenchmen. Read the rest of this entry »

Alistair Darling is the minister responsible for Britain’s finances. Lately Britain’s finances have not been doing well. However unfairly, many people are holding Mr Darling to blame. In an interview with the Guardian, he revealed how these people are expressing their displeasure. He and his wife recently ate in a restaurant with another couple. When they tried to order a second bottle of wine,

“The waiter came over and said ‘too much wine’ in a loud voice. So we stuck to one bottle for the entire meal.”

If you have ever wondered why British food and British restaurants are so awful, this story tells you all you need to know. Read the rest of this entry »

Those who are supposed to know about these things agree that times are getting tougher. Economies are ultimately shaped by how people feel, and right now the predominant feelings are gloom and foreboding.

For those of us who can remember the 1970s the present worries seem eerily familiar. Soaring fuel prices, terrorism, environmental hysteria, the fear that our society and culture are sliding into a moronic abyss - today’s headlines take me straight back to the happy world of my teens. Read the rest of this entry »

By general consent 2005 was one of the greatest Burgundy vintages. Some are calling it the greatest ever. The richness, complexity and sheer majesty of these wines have been praised universally, even by those normally sceptical about Old World vino. The result, inevitably, has been record prices. Good Burgundy was never cheap, but the 2005 top growths now fetch the same as vintage Champagne.

Billionaires will doubtless be very happy. So too will professional wine critics, whose job lets them drink the very best. That just leaves the remaining 99.99999% of us. Our acquaintance with the better-known 2005 Burgundies will be confined to a wistful stare in our wine merchant’s, followed by a vicious gasp as our gaze settles on the price sticker. Read the rest of this entry »

Most of the big political arguments have their counterparts in wine. Take the question of trade. One of the loudest debates of our time is between those who favour governmental control and those who would rather trust market forces. In this argument the world of wine perfectly mirrors the world of politics, with continental Europe obstinately in the first camp, the New World unthinkingly in the second.

Italy, France and Spain require that wines be classified by government-appointed experts, and that each wine label reveal its classification. The consumer must be sure whether he is paying for a vin ordinaire or a grand cru. He must be certain that if a wine comes from a particular location, it will only contain the prescribed amount of a certain grape. Armies of bureaucrats enforce these rules. Anyone who disobeys faces a stiff fine, perhaps even imprisonment. Read the rest of this entry »

Though undoubtedly an art, winemaking is not Art with a capital A. It is one of the great crafts, like cabinet-making or ceramics. I know many people dispute this, especially the young, whose duty is to challenge all established categories. Having joined countless undergraduate arguments on this subject, I have no wish to set off another. I simply make the point that if you admit any difference between Art and Craft – and I think you should – then you must accept that winemaking belongs to the latter, not the former.

That said, Art and Craft do share many qualities. One is the ability to shake prejudice. For instance, this week’s wine has shaken my mild but deep-rooted prejudice towards Rudolf Steiner, the Austrian thinker and esotericist. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week I discussed a winery that has been in business for about 10 years. This week’s was founded over 1800 years ago. Château Figeac is by far the oldest property of St Emilion, in Bordeaux. It was originally called the Figeacus estate, and its early history is veiled in fog.

We do not know when its owners first grew wine. In 92 AD the Emperor Domitian issued an edict prohibiting the planting of new vines, and this remained in force until 212. But it is not clear how strictly the edict was enforced outside Italy.

The name too is mysterious. “Figeacus” may be the family name of the estate’s first owners, but it may also be a corruption of ficus, meaning “fig-tree”. Read the rest of this entry »

More than once in these posts I have voiced doubts about the stories surrounding the names of certain wines and grapes, most recently Château Chasse-Spleen and Pinot Meunier. Enjoyable as these tales are, they often sound more like marketing inventions than genuine traditions, and even the more plausible ones sound decidedly odd.

One place that throws up more than its share of such stories is Beaune, in Burgundy. Although none of its wines has Grand Cru status, Beaune makes several of the region’s best Premier Crus. My own favourite is the Vigne de l’Enfant Jesus. Apparently its name derives from the fact that the vineyard used to belong to a Carmelite convent. The nuns, it is said, were so struck by the wine’s silkiness that they declared “It slips down the throat as easily as the Infant Jesus in velvet breeches.”   Read the rest of this entry »

For once I am breaking my own rules. I am discussing a wine I have only read about and may never have the chance to enjoy. If this distresses you, by all means write to complain.

The week’s liveliest news story was the resignation of New York’s governor, Eliot Spitzer, who was caught frequenting prostitutes. One detail of the story held my attention. Apparently each of Mr Spitzer’s visits cost between $4000 and $5000. Shortly after reading this, I learned that a bottle of 2005 Château Pétrus also costs around $5000. For anyone who is keen on wine, the coincidence is bound to prompt some reflection. Read the rest of this entry »