I’m just back from Burgundy. I love it there; every time I go it makes me question why I live in London. I don’t know about you but there aren’t many places that make me do that or try to convince everyone I know to visit too.

It’s such a charming region of France: so picturesque, so preserved, so proud, so French, the food, the people, the city of Beaune…. the wine…. You may be wondering why in a wine column I haven’t put wine at the top of the list of things I love about Burgundy. It’s not because I don’t love les vins de Bourgogne, far from it, but take a little step above the ‘entry level’ Bourgogne blanc et rouge and it all starts to get a bit complicated, a bit pricey and it’s no secret that there’s not enough of each wine to go round!

That’s why the other aspects of Burgundy are so important when it comes to discovering the wines of the region. The more time you spend there the more difficult it becomes to quench your thirst with the entry level stuff and the more curious you become of the regions’ other wines. If you’re not following me take a trip to Beaune, pour le weekend, then you’ll know what I mean & you’ll be telling everyone about it too.

I find it similar with wine shops. ………

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I’ve done a lot of reminiscing over the last few months, turns out it comes with the getting-married territory. From tales told in the Father of the Brides speech to the various stories you’d rather forget but inevitably surface at the Hen! In wine terms if you go back as little as 30 years our wine aisles were a very different story. Compared to the world of choice we take for granted now, the similarities back then are barely recognisable. It was a time when wine was dominated entirely by the Old World; France, Spain, Germany and Bulgaria (strange but true). That’s not to say wine wasn’t being made around the world, the Australians, Californians, Chileans they were all at it, it just wasn’t making it to our shores. Then came The Judgement of Paris. A wine tasting held by a chap called Steven Spurrier an English wine merchant living in Paris that had tasted wines of the ‘New World’ and wanted to bring them to the UK. A story immortalised by a flamboyant but enjoyable film of the event called ‘Bottle Shock’ – it was set to change the way the UK saw and bought wine forever.

I witnessed a similar wine-changing event in September this year, a democratic tasting and Judgement of Argentina at Lord’s cricket ground. ………

When you think of Portugal what springs to mind? If you asked Mr Bouquet he’d say golf and sand, if you asked Brother Bouquet he’d say stolen wetsuits and surfing. And if you’d asked me even a couple of years ago I’d have said Mateus rosé and post A-level sun. But for most in the wine-know, unsurprisingly, they’d say Port and corks, and with good reason. The country’s cork trees account for 50% of the world’s total cork production, and of course, Port can only be labelled as such if it’s made in Port-ugal!

Without doubt, in terms of growth in reputation and excitement Portuguese still wines have become the next big wine thing in the UK. ………

I’m a huge fan of Stylist magazine, and used to love the Lucy Mangan Out Spoken columns. I think we have some things in common, like her dismay at other people’s reaction to her not taking her husband’s name. As I prepare for my own wedding, I’m experiencing the same looks of bemusement and pity (the first at me, the later at him). But one rip-out-and-keep column has long stuck in my mind; she addressed her dislike of people who proudly proclaim their ignorance of certain things. “Why be proud of your lack of knowledge about anything!” she exclaimed. As a wine professional, I’m always amazed at how excited people get when they hear I work in the wine trade but you’d be surprised how often their enthusiasm is followed by a confession of how little they know about the subject!

Let’s get real for a minute; ………

A new wine app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch has been launched by wine blogger Miss Bouquet. My Wine Friend offers consumers a platform to build a ‘notebook’ of the wines they’ve been drinking, enjoying – and those they haven’t liked. It allows users to take photos of, write their own tasting notes on, and rate wines using a star system – a tool designed to ultimately help general wine consumers get to know their own wine tastes.

The creator of Miss Bouquet explains: “When I started my blog two years ago, I wanted to write about wine in the way I speak about wine when I’m out and about with friends, not in wine trade talk. The research I’ve done shows that consumers who enjoy wine want to know more about it but they don’t necessarily want to join a wine club, subscribe to a wine magazine or pay to go on a wine course, the app has been designed to reflect that, it’s about the we live now and the way we drink now. ………