Why Local Selects’ gift boxes are here to stay

Peter Ranscombe reviews some of the amazing Scottish drinks featured in Local Selects’ gift boxes. ONE of the few positive results of lockdown has been the inspiring and innovative ways in which many Scottish drinks businesses dealt with the closure of bars, pubs, and other on-trade venues. The Start-up Drinks Lab in Port Glasgow is…

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Five of the best from M&S’s new ‘Classics’ range

Wines from Europe feature in the first wave of arrivals in Markies’ new ‘Classics’ selection, as Peter Ranscombe finds out. FOLLOWING the launch of its “This Is…” £5 range, Marks & Spencer is continuing the revamp of its wine selection with the introduction of its “Classics” series. Starting at £7 a bottle, the “Classics” mark…

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What does a covid compliant wine list look like?

As hospitality venues continue to reopen, Peter Ranscombe visits Hotel du Vin in St Andrews to run the rule over its pared-back wine list. I’LL always have a soft spot for St Andrews – it’s where I studied physics, where I met some special people, and where I developed an obsession with Janetta’s ice cream.…

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Making organic wine in style

NEVER judge a book by its cover – nor a wine by its label. Fortunately, the liquid inside brothers Paride and Jacapo d’Angelo’s bottles lives up to the promise of its packaging. The siblings have been making wine in Italy’s Abruzzo region for the past seven years, having learned about wine at the feet of…

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A first look at Spar’s latest wines

Continuing his covid convenience retailer romp, Peter Ranscombe runs the rule over Spar’s latest bottles. AS WE explored earlier during lockdown, staying local to do the weekly food shop is nothing new for many of us in Scotland. In most rural areas, our choice of grocery store won’t be the “big four” supermarket chains or…

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Restaurants get 100,000 free glasses of wine to tempt customers back

As the UK Government’s “Eat Out to Help Out” scheme ends, wine importer Hallgarten is giving restaurants and bars a helping hand – and Peter Ranscombe picks some exciting bottles from its warehouse. MANY restaurant owners have hailed the “Eat Out to Help Out” scheme as a massive success, bringing customers out for early week…

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What makes Aldi’s new Scottish gin so special?

As the Old Curiosity Distillery prepares to restart its tours, Peter Ranscombe hears the story behind the gin it’s created for Aldi. GOOD things come to those who wait – or so the old saying goes. For Hamish Martin, that adage was certainly true. He took over a derelict site just south of Edinburgh in…

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You’re history: the stories behind famous wines

Peter Ranscombe travels back in time to explore some of the history of grape growing and winemaking. PART of the attraction of wine is its blend of components – it’s part geography, part sociology and part history. Diana Thompson’s latest Wine Events Scotland online tastings have focused on the third leg of that triumvirate. Thompson…

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Trying Lebanon wine ahead of Friday’s charity auction

Peter Ranscombe reviews wines from Domaine des Tourelles ahead of a fundraising auction this weekend for rebuilding Lebanon. WINE connects people – whether it’s through work or through pleasure, it has an almost magical way of linking lives. When times are tough, people in the wine industry pull together, like when wildfires devastated parts of…

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How Banfi’s vineyards are adapting to climate change

A pre-lockdown visit to Tuscany revealed how a mind-boggling attention to detail in the vineyard could help one of Italy’s best-known wine producers to cope with global warming, writes Peter Ranscombe. FOR Gianni Savelli, climate change isn’t a hypothetical subject that’s confined to the evening news bulletin or a discussion about the far-flung future that’s…

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