There is definitely a little je ne sais quoi in the air…. Bastille Day followed by the Tour de France, topped off with the launch party of Mr & Mrs Smith’s Hotel Collection – France. I love cycling but I only took part in two of the events above, naturellement.

1. Bastille Day at Battersea Park proved France is anything but out of favour with Londoners as queues for the country’s gastronomic delights were consistently longer than my patience can handle!

2. The launch of Mr & Mrs Smith’s Hotel Collection – France, embraced an air of shabby chic that only West London and parts of Paris can get away with and still retain their cool edge as we hung out in Notting Hill’s quaint Travel Book Shop drinking Champagne Ruinart Brut NV and eating our body weight in cheese from the dangerously waist-expanding La Fromagerie. ………

I’m getting increasingly annoyed by Them. You know the ones, that group that everyone refers to, never questions but no-one actually knows. I once heard Them say that as the speed of technology increases so does the pace of life…… and so here I sit avec laptop simultaneously realising that I haven’t written a blog post for over a month and that sometimes They are right. ………

Researching for my latest wine column in The Notebook I was asked to write about New World wines. It may sound pretty unchallenging on the surface but believe me that’s about as broad as it gets. Where do you start? In the same way I solve most of life’s conundrums I suppose…. by opening the wine list. Bien sur!

The timing of my research coincided perfectly with a few hazy weeks full of friends, food and wine. You know me, it wasn’t necessarily in that order…. anyway, it’s been good, and it gave me plenty of opportunities to find the inspiration I needed. Lots of mini measures of wine by the glass meant I could taste a pallet load of different wines and still remember what I’d tried the morning after. Sticking to wines from the New World I tasted some great wines and terrible ones. Of note was a red I had at ’409′ restaurant & bar in Clapham north called Miss Harry 2007. Produced by Hewitson Wines it’s a blend of Shiraz, Grenache and Mourvèdre from the Barossa Valley in South Australia. A close second was a hunky-chunky Pinotage from South African producer Beyerskloof that I had at Out-of-the-Blue bar in Wandsworth while catching up with ‘Lil Jo*. ………

Heritage Road Merlot Reserve 09

The last week or so has been uncharacteristically celebrity filled. I’m not talking X-factor finalist or Big Brother ‘stars’, I mean like Bob Geldof, Kristen Scott-Thomas, David Tennant…. you know, real famous people! They joined me at the opening night of Legally Blonde The Musical at The Savoy Theatre. If you enjoyed the film then the show is a must. “OMG, its-like soooo full of energy!”

Not wanting to sound blasé or anything but Sir Bob and David T weren’t even almost the highlight of my week. No, it was on Tuesday afternoon when I bumped into Steven Spurrier at The New Zealand Wine tasting that my heart really started to pound. Who?! I won’t be too surprised if you haven’t heard of him, he’s never appeared on the pages of Grazia magazine or Vogue, and I doubt he ever will. He’s a gentleman of a certain age and a walking, talking, wine trade legend. So great is the impact he’s had on the world of wine that Hollywood has recently made a film about him. It’s called Bottle Shock, put it on your January DVD viewing list you won’t be disappointed. ………

Last night I had take away from Ukai for the second time this week, maybe you already know it, they’ve got three branches in London so far. If you don’t and you like sushi then may I introduce you to a great calorie minimal treat for January. Forget readymade sushi platters from your local supermarket, this is freshly made on site and eco friendly, all their fish is sourced sustainably.

Anyway, the girls were coming over and I’d promised them an evening of DVD’s, NYE wine left-overs, xmas stocking chocolates and a January friendly guilt free meal – sushi take away from Ukai. Saturday nights in don’t get much better than this!

I decided I should reward my pals for their efforts for crossing London in the snow and dutifully stocked my fridge with three sparkling wines:

1. ‘Taste the difference’ Champagne, Vintage 2003
2. Prosecco Beato Bartolomeo Breganze Extra Dry
3. Lindauer Brut Cuvee from NZ

A mixed bag for sure and of varying quality. ………

OMG!! It’s been a big month! Three big things to tell you about and they’re not all about wine (it’ll be a one off I promise)

The first must be obvious as you’ve made it here, welcome to my new website!!

The second is that I have just had my first wine column published, I’m now available in print and online which is très exciting, non! Pick up a copy of The Notebook in Kensington & Chelsea (London), it’s the December issue which came out just this week and I’ll be uploading it to my site soon. ………