Winter grapes
Italy and France have been jostling each other for the crown of world's biggest wine producer over the past few years. In 2008, Italy took the top spot for the first time in a decade but in the 2009 harvest, the two are neck and neck again, Jane Anson picks her favourite bottles
Forever intertwined
'Gastronomy and wine have enjoyed a long and successful partnership' says Michel Roux Senior, the legendary chef of the Waterside Inn in Bray. Jane Anson provides us with some wine options to suit any meal
Wine reviews
Good wine should engender good conversation. By choosing a bottle by price or grape variety alone, explains Jane Anson, you are missing out on one of the most important conversations that a bottle of wine can initiate
Cream of the crop
Selwyn Parker takes a look at one of the hottest properties in the global liqueur market: a classic African staple that's in the ascendancy
Shake up your palate
What finer way to enjoy the ambience of a beach, bar, mountain lodge or living room, than carefree and cocktail in hand
Lovely bubbly
Just because the festive period is over doesn't mean there is nothing to celebrate. Jane Anson urges you to ditch the winter blues and celebrate the beauty of champagne, if only for champagne's sake
Top spots
It can be hard to find the time to fully appreciate a destination and what it has to offer. Here are a few of the finer spots to eat in some of the world's most- travelled business regions
The golden age
The Natural Colour decanter has been designed by the legendary French crystal house Lalique, exclusively for The Macallan. A limited edition, of only 420, have been produced, each individually numbered and available in selected outlets in the USA, UK, Asia and Russia from January 2008
Lap of luxury
The Pavilion restaurant in Antigua serves contemporary continental and French Creole cuisine in a truly idyllic setting
Soaking up the sun
Find the perfect picnic companion this summer. Jane Anson reviews the best wines on the market to be enjoyed in the sunshine
The wild bunch
Bruce Forsyth knows it. Tony Bennett knows it. Even Noel Edmonds knows it. If you hang around for long enough, you might fall out of favour for a while, but eventually, as if by magic, you'll become fashionable again. And I think it might be time for the French to feel the effect of this rule
Reasons to be cheerful
Champagne producers are facing something of a dilemma. On the one hand, they have spent years carefully repositioning their product to maintain the luxury associations, but democratise it sufficiently to keep sales rising
Grape expectations
Ordering a bottle of Pétrus during a friendly lunch is tantamount to social suicide. For most of us, choosing a wine during a meal can be a nerve-wracking experience
Irish drinkers sup on $640 cocktail
Ireland's most expensive cocktail has gone on sale at a Dublin hotel – priced at a sobering €500 ($640)
Wine wars
Thirty years ago, an event that became known as the Judgement of Paris changed the perceptions of New World wines forever when famous Bordeaux names such as Mouton Rothschild and Haut Brion were beaten by Californian wines in a blind tasting
Bring me the wine list
There are endless ways to choose which wine you are going to have with dinner tonight
French still the top chefs
Spain's El Bulli has toppled Britain's Fat Duck as the world's best restaurant in a poll published recently
The wine
Time was, any self-respecting celebrity would have been more concerned with scotch and cigarettes than a nice glass of wine. But that is so last century
