Sherry is just the tip of the iceberg at The Macallan

Peter Ranscombe probes the use of sherry casks by one of Speyside’s best known distilleries. ONE word more than any other characterises our national drink – sherry. You spot it on labels, you see it on adverts, you even read it in tasting notes. Yet “sherry” covers a multitude of bases when it comes to…

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Six of the best budget beating festive bottles

Peter Ranscombe picks wines to toast Christmas and Hogmanay without breaking the bank. CHRISTMAS is expensive enough without feeling the pressure to spend a fortune on bottles that – let’s face it – may be quickly forgotten in amongst the feasting and family and friends. If you’re going to sit down and enjoy a bottle…

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Glasgow has itself a Moët little Christmas

A new Moët & Chandon cocktail tastes just peachy in the Dear Green Place, as Peter Ranscombe discovers. IT MIGHT not be fashionable among wine writers to say it, but I do enjoy a glass of Moët. Don’t get me wrong – I’m a big fan of grower Champagnes, the sparkling wines made by farmers…

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Five of the best beers from Flavourly

Peter Ranscombe picks some of his favourites from craft beer specialist Flavourly. TRYING to choose a pint has become complicated. Wind the clock back 20 years and the choice was simple. If you were standing at a bar then you could have a watery lager, an over-sweet 80 shillings, or that ubiquitous stout from Ireland.…

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Quintus emerges from the shadow of Haut-Brion

It may have a more famous sibling on the left bank, but Saint-Emilion’s Chateau Quintus deserves some limelight, writes Peter Ranscombe. “I NEVER worry about showing Quintus after Haut-Brion,” shrugged Guillaume-Alexandre Marx, Domaine Clarence Dillon’s sales manager, over lunch at wine-focused private members’ club 67 Pall Mall in London. There’s a perceptible raising of eyebrows…

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Why the weather determines the taste of Sauternes

Sweet wine expert Ana Carvalho explores the effect of hot and cold years on the taste of Chateau Suduiraut with Peter Ranscombe. TUCKED away between the Ciron and Garonne rivers in Bordeaux, the Sauternes region produces arguably the most-famous sweet wines on the planet. When the cold waters of the Ciron meet the warmer Garonne…

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Fizz Feast hits new heights

Missed this month’s Fizz Feast in Edinburgh? Peter Ranscombe selects six sensational sparklers from the festival. ONE of the most exciting aspects of Fizz Feast, the celebration of sparkling wine and artisan food, is the sheer variety of bubbles on show. Organiser Diana Thompson, who has been running the fair for the past four years,…

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Age-worthy South African wines go under the hammer

Peter Ranscombe gets a sneak peak at a collection of older South African wines going up for auction at Christie’s in London this week. ASK different drinkers about how they perceive wines from South Africa and you’ll get a host of different answers. Some will praise the weird and wacky low-intervention wines produced in the…

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