The second edition of the London Bettane+Desseauve wine experience will take place at the beautiful Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea on the 25th and 26th October.
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Producers from all over France, Italy, Spain and Greece will be presenting more than 400 wines to wine lovers including well known producers like Ruinart, Piper-Heidsieck, Taittinger, Château Giscours, Château Hostens Picant, Domaine des Perdrix, Cheval des Andes, Bruno Giacosa, Masciarelli and notorious ones like Dominio de Pingus.

Whether you’re a wine novice or wine enthusiast this is set to be a tasting experience that will feed your thirst for wine and knowledge and we have 5 pairs of tickets to give away (normally £30 each). The first five to enter the correct response to the following question in the comments box below will win. Good luck and hope to see you there! ………

Choice isn’t always a good thing. With so many online wine shops popping up at the moment surfing the web for your favourite drop can be as confusing as the supermarket wine aisle. Which is why it’s a relief to introduce you to dropwines, a new online wine retailer who believes that less is more by focusing on offering ten wines a week that they promise will taste as good as they’re priced.

I took five minutes with wine buyer in chief Richard Verney to explain what they’re up to and why, if you know what you’re looking for, he could offer you much more than just a bottle of wine…..!

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Cult wine, icon wine, celebrity wine: what does it all mean? The first two will mean something to the wine trade and to wine enthusiasts and the third means something to everyone else. Being the wine hussy that I am makes me open my wallet and my mouth at the sheer mention of either or all of these über wines and yet rarely, very rarely will cult, icon or celebrity be used to describe a rosé…

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In the same month as Decanter Magazine launched it’s electronic version for the iPhone new wine magazine ‘By The Bottle’ launched its first issue exclusively for the iPad. Revolutionary by wine trade standards By The Bottle is entirely electronic and it’s free. Billed as an innovative lifestyle magazine for wine lovers it ‘offers a blend of articles that range from being fun and lighthearted to serious and provocative.’ If Decanter is your wine enthused Uncle then By The Bottle is your floppy haired, posh, younger cousin.

Unlike any wine title gone before, to the untrained eye By The Bottle could be mistaken for a copy of men’s mag GQ: it’s a little bit sexy with an undertone of Top Gear meets Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels. As an exclusively electronic magazine it punches above its weight in terms of artistic and technical impact with enough pop-ups and push-me buttons to keep even the most disengaged wine drinkers turning the page. ………

When’s the right time to start thinking about Christmas? Everybody has their signal, the Oxford Street lights going on usually start things off for me but Christmas songs on the radio before December is a no-no. Mr B and I are hosting both our families on Christmas Day this year, it’s going to be a snug affair in our little London house but as it’s the first time we’ve done it I’m definitely starting to plan things way earlier than usual.

Adapting to my new role as Christmas-maker-in-chief will be quite different to my usual role as Vino-topper-upper but as my bump will be getting in the way of my usual Christmas Cheer this year I’ll be handing over the reigns to Mr B. Here are some words of wisdom I’ll be sharing with him to make sure the glasses are full and everybody has a very merry Christmas!

The Vino Topper-Upper: ………

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The previous owners of our house had a penchant for bold colours. Our kitchen work surfaces are sparkly Chelsea blue and our bathroom is puurrrrple! Needless to say both will be disappearing with time, starting with the bathroom which is being done next week. During the design decision making we keep being told that contrast is good so we’ve gone for water-turquoise tiles and a slate grey floor. Whether these opposites will look any good remains to be seen, there’s only a certain clarity you can get with two tile samples and a splodge of paint on the wall. .
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Contrast is also being tested in other news where I’m told we should be embracing sober-October in a last chance attempt to give the liver a break before the Christmas party season. This at the same time as London Cocktail Week kicks off. ………