Jonathan Ray is The Spectator’s drinks editor.
Just in case it had slipped your notice I thought I’d let you know that International Sherry Week is coming up on 7th-13th November. No, no, please hear me out! Long seen as the preserve of maiden aunts and retired vicars, sherry is on something of a roll and I, for one, blooming well love
Hennessy, the best-selling cognac of all, is giving two lucky Spectator readers the chance to win a bottle of Hennessy XO – the first ever XO Cognac, originally created in 1870 – and two tickets to the 60th running of the legendary Hennessy Gold Cup on Saturday 26th November at Newbury Racecourse. As the longest-standing
We have six real treats this week: three from Italy and three from Spain. I would have been happy with almost any of the wines that Private Cellar’s Laura Taylor put up and those that didn’t make my final six only just missed out by inches. And, in the face of a plunging pound, Laura
We had such a fine Spectator Winemaker Lunch with Michiel Eradus of boutique New Zealand winery, Eradus Wines, the other day and the wines were so darned good and so well-priced that I insisted that Corney & Barrow allow us offer them to readers through The Spectator. Founded in the Awatere river valley in Marlborough
Jonathan Ray encounters his new favourite drink. The other night I had a drink I’d never had before and I positively lapped it up. Indeed, I don’t think my life will ever be the same again. I’m completely smitten. What so unexpectedly seduced me was a kümmel and soda. Actually, to be honest, it was
Although many wine merchants are tightening their post-Brexit belts and rationalising their cellars, Yapp Bros have thrown their net ever wider. They might be the 2016 International Wine Challenge Loire Specialist of the Year and ditto for the Rhône, but Yapps have recently been fishing outside their traditional waters, making first-time forays deeper into France
We’ve something a bit different this week: six wines not only from the same region (Burgundy) but also the same producer (Maison Louis Latour). The Wine Company’s Mark Cronshaw presented such a fine selection of Latour’s wines that they were impossible to resist, especially after we’d cornered him to demand some pretty punchy discounts. Maison
This competition has now closed. Read Jonathan Ray’s post-competition blog here. I’m hoping you might forgive a little self indulgence with our latest competition. My dear old dad Cyril Ray – formerly assistant editor of this very magazine (in the days of Inglis, Levin and Whitehorn) and twenty times the writer about drink (or indeed anything
After three and a quarter centuries in the business, Berry Bros. & Rudd is certainly trad, but it’s also reassuringly innovative. So it is that we have here a classic claret but also a Chardonnay from a part of France that doesn’t grow it, a blended single varietal from Chile (don’t worry, all is explained
Summer’s taking its leave and we have a fine Gallic half-dozen from Corney & Barrow with which to enjoy the last of the sun. And to cheer us up, we have a double discount on offer, the initial price-lopping enhanced by the fabled Brett-Smith Indulgence, in which a further £6 is knocked off a case
Jonathan Ray gives a heartening update on the campaign to bring back the imperial pint of champagne When the Spectator urges so things start to happen. You might recall a despatch of mine a week or so ago concerning a Spectator Winemaker’s Lunch we held for readers in our boardroom, hosted by James Simpson MW,
Jonathan Ray heads to north Wales and braves both Welsh rain and Welsh wine in search of the fabled Welsh salt marsh lamb. Portmeirion was as beguiling as ever and the Welsh summer weather as vile. My wife, Marina, and I and our two teenage boys are just back from spending a week in one
A tasty selection this week courtesy of FromVineyardsDirect.com, the masters at snuffling out tucked-away treasures for bargain prices. FVD’s founders, Esme Johnstone and David Campbell, have impeccable contacts and seem to know everyone who matters in the regions that matter. As a result, they nab tiny parcels of this and that from both well-established and
Jonathan Ray looks back on a fine Spectator Winemaker Lunch with Vega Sicilia. An excellent lunch in the Spectator boardroom today as Antonio Menéndez, managing director (sales and marketing) of mighty Vega Sicilia hosted the latest in our series of Spectator Winemaker Lunches. Vega Sicilia in Spain’s Ribera del Duero has an extraordinary reputation and
This 8 week course has now begun. If you are interested in joining another one of our Wine Schools please email wineschool@spectator.co.uk. The Spectator Wine School is a chance to be tutored by the best in the wine business. It is aimed at enthusiastic beginners and anyone who wants to know more about the main wine regions. Over eight
We had some very fine answers in our competition to find the perfect collective noun for a group of wine bores. You might recall that the best my confreres and I could come up with during the wine bores’ dinner that kicked off the initial discussion [see: Struggling to serve wine in the right order]
We’ve some wonderful summery wines this week, each one from France. Not deliberately so: it’s just that these six wines — from Alsace, Loire, Bordeaux and beyond — were easily the best in our tasting. And I reckon they show that France on song is pretty much unbeatable and (thanks here, I admit, to some
One of the great joys of travelling is happening upon a restaurant or bar that quite unexpectedly brings a beaming smile to your chops. A place about which you had the lowest of low hopes that unpredictably turns out to delight you. In truth, such a spot might even be on your doorstep rather than
We had a full house in the boardroom last Friday with James Simpson MW, managing director of Pol Roger (UK), in the chair for the latest in our series of Spectator Winemaker’s Lunches. Oh, and by the way and quite coincidentally, our current Wine Club offer with Private Cellar is a Pol Roger offer, so
We at The Spectator drink a lot of Pol Roger Champagne. It’s more or less the house pour. Not every day you understand, just on high days and holidays such as the Spectator summer party, from which more than a few of us are still recovering. And I must say that when standing like a
