Jonathan Ray

We had some very fine answers in our competition to find the perfect collective noun for a group of wine bores. You might recall that the best my confreres and I could come up with during the wine bores’ dinner that kicked off the initial discussion [see: Struggling to serve wine in the right order]

We had a full house in the boardroom last Friday with James Simpson MW, managing director of Pol Roger (UK), in the chair for the latest in our series of Spectator Winemaker’s Lunches. Oh, and by the way and quite coincidentally, our current Wine Club offer with Private Cellar is a Pol Roger offer, so

We at The Spectator drink a lot of Pol Roger Champagne. It’s more or less the house pour. Not every day you understand, just on high days and holidays such as the Spectator summer party, from which more than a few of us are still recovering. And I must say that when standing like a

We had a fine Spectator Winemaker Lunch with Olivier Humbrecht of leading Alsace producer Domaine Zind Humbrecht the other day. Olivier is generally agreed to be among the most gifted winemakers of his generation. Not just in Alsace but anywhere. He is also one of the humblest and most charmingly self-deprecating. He showed us half

Much has been written about the tip-top quality of the 2015 clarets, the en primeur campaign of which is in full swing, and there are indeed some absolute belters to be had, but at a price. And while a fine vintage in one region rarely guarantees a fine vintage in another, 2015 was a glorious

The Languedoc is home to some cracking wines at the moment. And really great value ones too, especially compared to the all-too-often-overpriced wines of Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Rhône. Domaine de la Jasse is one of the region’s leading estates and when we offered some 2012 Domaine de la Jasse ‘Black Label’ Tête de Cuvée

The following wines from Private Cellar are all about summer, chosen with long lunches on the lawn, picnics by the river and crafty evening drinks in mind. I reckon they hit just the right note. And because I’m so wretchedly indecisive I’ve snuck a seventh wine in too. First, the 2015 Finca Salazar Sauvignon Blanc

Last week’s Spectator Winemaker’s Lunch with Sami Ghosn of Massaya was an instant a sell-out. For some reason it was also our first ever all-male lunch; more fool the girls, for Sami is nothing if not a charmer and his wines are outstanding. Almost everyone has heard of Chateau Musar, which famously blazed the Lebanese

I reckon Robert Boutflower of Tanners has the measure of The Spectator. He knows exactly what tickles our fancy. He put up a dozen wines for our tasting, any one of which I’d be delighted to recommend to readers. Price was ultimately the deciding factor, though, and — hooray! — we nailed the mixed case

I have a particular fondness for the Chapel Down Winery near Tenterden, Kent. I was brought up just down the road in Rolvenden, although in those days it was of course all hop gardens and orchards rather than vineyards. The landscape of southern England is certainly changing. Chapel Down is the UK’s largest producer of