People

A Night at the Roederers

Andrew — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:05:27 +0000

Ken Grills Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 07:04:57 +0000

Ken Payton, one of the administrators of an excellent site called (you won't forget this one) Reign of Terroir, has recently asked me some some searching and wide-ranging questions.

Absinthe friend

Andrew — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:08:54 +0000

I’ve been doing a little work on pastis recently (see Financial Times piece on 9.8.08) and that has taken me back

Calling Little Venetians

Andrew — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 11:34:58 +0000

I finally made it to David Motion’s The Winery at 4 Clifton Road W9 (http://www.thewineryuk.com/) recently, close to Little Venice.

Wiston Ho!

Andrew — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:17:43 +0000

Recording interviews for the Food Program of July 27th/28th has given me a chance to visit some old friends as well as new es

Architecture and the burden of living

Andrew — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 07:52:55 +0000

I tuned in to the BBC World Service two or three nights ago and hooked up with the end of a conversation with Richard Rogers (whose rapid and distinctive half-mumble must be hard for those who have learned English as a second language to follow).

"Can architecture change lives?" he was asked.
"You make the burden of living easier," Rogers replied.

Behind the scenes at the tasting

Andrew — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:35:55 +0000

Off to the Decanter World Wine Awards tastings every day last week, medal-hunting with the Regional France and Languedoc-Roussillon panels. I can’t reveal any of the results, obviously; indeed I don’t know them yet myself in any useful sense, since all we’ve done is award medals to unidentified wines. What I can do is pass on a little of flavour of the week, and try to explain why it’s so enjoyed by its participants.

From City Flogger to Chopper Lump

Andrew — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 12:26:55 +0000

What?

Farewell, Bill Baker, heroic wine merchant

Andrew — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 21:41:38 +0000

I am sad, very sad, to hear that Bill Baker has died. He was, in a way, the best of us — in that he gave himself entirely to his vocation. Gleefully. On every occasion I met him, I marvelled at this, while at the same time worrying (on behalf of all those that loved him) that his devotion was too reckless, too absolute. His zest for life was so strong that I thought it would serve as his angel, whisking him away from the brink. Until last week, it did.

Thinking about it: listen in

Andrew — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 16:40:38 +0000

Back in December 2004, I attended the now-celebrated conference at the University of London called ‘Philosophy and Wine’. You can read the piece I wrote for the FT afterwards (February 2005) in the articles section of this site.

Barry Smith, the organiser, has edited and published a collection of essays, some of them originally papers given at the conference and others written specially for the book, called Questions of Taste.