The Tao of Jiaozi 

     “If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.”  Lao Tzu   After queuing out on the sidewalk for an age, patiently day-dreaming about the magic going on inside, you enter a...

Lord of the Flies

    A literal English translation of Clos des Mouches would be ‘Field of Flies’ however, in the local vernacular the site was called ‘Clos des Mouches a Miel’ which means ‘Field of Honey Flies’ as...

The Blood of Jove

There are not too many wines you try in your life where upon first taste you realize: ‘here is a wine that is going to change everything’. My first ‘Tignanello’ -interestingly enough, most industry professionals...

Digital Drinking

  Harpers.Co.UK recently reported on research conducted by French start-up accelerator, 33 Entrepreneurs. The data revealed that 2014 saw no less than 1,400 new wine apps launched into the marketplace. Many apps are essentially retail selling...

Hanoi by the Glass

  "In a city one thousand years old, everyone is a visitor." I have been ‘dropping’ in to Hanoi for over a dozen years, for the past 9 months I have found myself a resident. Hanoi has...

Roussanne

The Rhone Valley in France is rightly famous for its rich, spicy, full bodied red wines and the grape varieties that go into these vinous legends, namely: Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre and a number of...

The Pope’s New Castle

Lovers of richly flavoured, full-bodied red wines have long been drawn to France’s most famous wine region, Bordeaux. However, it was a Bordeaux exodus that led to the creation of one of the most...

The Speakeasy – part one, Prohibition

The modern day Speakeasy is typically a small, urban bar tucked into an out of the way and sometimes unlikely space; it is usually an establishment that specializes in the serving high quality spirits,...