Food & Drink

There are few rosé houses in Provence that manage to combine poise, pedigree and a genuine sense of place quite like Sainte Marguerite en Provence.

Cupid may have his arrows, but I’ve always preferred a well‑aimed cork. This Valentine’s Day, forget the clichés and reach for something that actually makes your heart beat faster — great wine. From South African sparkle to French finesse and Rioja romance, here’s your cheat sheet to bottles guaranteed to impress. Flowers fade… but good wine is forever.

Rosé has long since shrugged off its poolside stereotype, and nowhere was that more evident than at a Château d’Esclans lunch at The Fat Badger, Notting Hill — a setting that felt deliberately understated, allowing both food and wine to speak with clarity.

The lineup told a precise story of ambition and evolution: Les Clans 2022, Garrus 2022, and Château d’Esclans 2022 — three expressions that firmly position Provençal rosé in the world of serious, gastronomic wine.

Château d’Esclans: redefining rosé’s ceiling

January is often a month of reset — lighter meals, fewer indulgences and, for many, a pause on alcohol. But Try January doesn’t have to mean missing out altogether. It can also be about being more thoughtful: drinking less, but better. And what better moment to raise a considered glass than Australia Day?

Burns Night has always been about more than reciting poetry and piping in the haggis. At its heart, it is a celebration of place, identity, and shared experience. Whisky sits naturally at the centre of that table, not as a luxury flourish, but as a cultural companion. I have selected some of my favourite recommendations below for you to celebrate with this Saturday January 25th:-

At Bertie’s Whisky Bar within The Fife Arms, guests can now taste the oldest and most significant collection of House of Hazelwood Scotch whisky ever made available in a single venue. Spanning more than four centuries of Scotch whisky heritage, and comprising nine exceptionally rare expressions aged between 33 and 57 years, this is the most ambitious whisky programme Bertie’s has ever presented and the most comprehensive House of Hazelwood offering available anywhere in the world.

The Negroni is often described as a drink of absolutes. Equal parts gin, Campari and sweet vermouth; stirred, never shaken; garnished with orange. Yet beneath its rigid structure lies extraordinary flexibility. Change one ingredient — particularly the vermouth — and the drink’s personality shifts entirely.

A Magical Walk Through Winchester Christmas Market

The festive season invites a certain grandeur—moments when the table gleams a little brighter, the conversation stretches a little longer, and the wines deserve to be every bit as memorable as the occasion itself. This year’s selection brings together bottles of genuine distinction: wines shaped by exceptional vintages, meticulous craftsmanship, and the quiet confidence that comes only from producers at the top of their game.

When Heather Bradshaw talks about Washington State, her eyes light up with the conviction of someone who has watched a region rise from quiet potential to global significance. A former broadcast journalist, she began her career in the small agricultural town of Yakima — “the heart of wine country,” she recalls — where viticulture was not yet an international talking point but an emerging dream.