Jonathan Ray is The Spectator’s drinks editor.
We had a fine Spectator Winemaker Lunch with Olivier Humbrecht of leading Alsace producer Domaine Zind Humbrecht the other day. Olivier is generally agreed to be among the most gifted winemakers of his generation. Not just in Alsace but anywhere. He is also one of the humblest and most charmingly self-deprecating. He showed us half
The key to working out the best order in which to serve one’s wines is to mix it up a bit discovers Jonathan Ray. There were five of us to dinner last night at a BYO-friendly club in London and each of us had brought one or two fine bottles to knock back and bang
Browsing and Sluicing in Toronto and the Niagara Peninsula Jonathan Ray discovers that Canada’s most vibrant and global city is home to some exceptional restaurants and a vibrant cocktail culture with some of North America’s most exciting wines on its doorstep. Toronto is an eight hour flight from London (and not even seven back) and
Sideways has long been one of my favourite films, the hugely enjoyable bittersweet tale of two ill-matched old friends, Miles (Paul Giamatti) and Jack (Thomas Haden Church), enjoying a celebratory trip road trip to the vineyards of the Santa Ynez Valley in California the week before Jack’s wedding. Miles is a Pinot Noir-obsessed writer weighed
Much has been written about the tip-top quality of the 2015 clarets, the en primeur campaign of which is in full swing, and there are indeed some absolute belters to be had, but at a price. And while a fine vintage in one region rarely guarantees a fine vintage in another, 2015 was a glorious
I do love a good oyster. And I love the fact that here in Toronto it’s okay and acceptable to eat them in the middle of June without an ‘R’ in the month. My dear departed dad adored oysters and used to say that eating one was like having an angel copulate on your tongue.
Good grief, I’ve just been well and truly seduced! Back in April, attentive readers might recall, I led a heavily oversubscribed Spectator visit to Chapel Down winery in Kent for a bit of a tasting and one heck of a lunch. We ate and drank like kings and lingered far longer over lunch than was
So here I am, just arrived in Toronto. And it strikes me that we Brits uncertain about the vote on Thursday and unnerved by immigration in particular could learn much from this quietly confident city. It’s the fourth largest in North America (which I did not know), after New York, LA, Mexico City and just
The Languedoc is home to some cracking wines at the moment. And really great value ones too, especially compared to the all-too-often-overpriced wines of Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Rhône. Domaine de la Jasse is one of the region’s leading estates and when we offered some 2012 Domaine de la Jasse ‘Black Label’ Tête de Cuvée
The following wines from Private Cellar are all about summer, chosen with long lunches on the lawn, picnics by the river and crafty evening drinks in mind. I reckon they hit just the right note. And because I’m so wretchedly indecisive I’ve snuck a seventh wine in too. First, the 2015 Finca Salazar Sauvignon Blanc
Last week’s Spectator Winemaker’s Lunch with Sami Ghosn of Massaya was an instant a sell-out. For some reason it was also our first ever all-male lunch; more fool the girls, for Sami is nothing if not a charmer and his wines are outstanding. Almost everyone has heard of Chateau Musar, which famously blazed the Lebanese
I reckon Robert Boutflower of Tanners has the measure of The Spectator. He knows exactly what tickles our fancy. He put up a dozen wines for our tasting, any one of which I’d be delighted to recommend to readers. Price was ultimately the deciding factor, though, and — hooray! — we nailed the mixed case
I have a particular fondness for the Chapel Down Winery near Tenterden, Kent. I was brought up just down the road in Rolvenden, although in those days it was of course all hop gardens and orchards rather than vineyards. The landscape of southern England is certainly changing. Chapel Down is the UK’s largest producer of
There is rosé and there is rosé. By which I mean there is the ghastly, teeth-rattling, vinous bubblegum that is Blossom Hill White (actually pink) Zinfandel from California, which you can pick up in Tesco for a fiver a bottle (plus £3.69 for the subsequent essential Alka-Seltzer), and there is the subtle, herbal, spicy, salmon
Jonathan Ray reckons size matters and finds himself wrong footed by the supermarkets. So there I was at my birthday supper. Marina, bless her, had done all the grub and I’d done the wine. We had 20 folk round the table, some keen on their wine and some keen on, well, just drinking. Indeed, the
Mark Pardoe MW, the wine-buying director of Berry Bros. & Rudd, has a touching fondness for The Spectator. Either that or his maths is terrible. He shows me some excellent wines, all of which I love. I narrow them down to six and ask whether he might see his way to knocking a few quid
Chateau Musar is an extraordinary wine boasting an almost fanatical following. It’s made in the most unlikely of places – Lebanon’s sun-baked, war-torn Bekaa Valley – and my much-missed predecessor, the great Simon Hoggart, adored it, his enthusiasm doing much to bring it to a wider audience. We at the Spectator Wine Club are fortunate
To get himself in shape for the forthcoming Spectator St. George’s Day trip to Chapel Down Winery in Kent, Jonathan Ray spends a weekend in the wine-lands of Sussex and Surrey. It’s one of life’s greatest pleasures, taking one’s car across the Channel and pootling about Champagne, say, or the Loire Valley or Alsace, Burgundy,
Ronnie Corbett was an absolute gent, one of the nicest of men and hilarious company. He was self-deprecating, courteous and genuinely charming with an endless stream of anecdotes and a fine line in dirty limericks. He loved his wine and, although he denied it, was very knowledgeable about it. I met him about ten years
It’s April at last, my favourite time of the year. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and, if you squint slightly, the sea here in Brighton could almost pass for blue. We’ll be mowing the lawn before you know it. And we’ve some lovely April-appropriate wines, courtesy of Corney & Barrow — well-priced