Henry Jeffreys

When I was researching Vines in a Cold Climate in 2022 the issue guaranteed to rile up English wine producers wasn’t Brexit, the Sussex PDO or the baffling Covid restrictions which were still in place at the time but Charmat. Yes, a method for making fizz turned out to be the most controversial thing in the entire book.
The ire was focused at one brand in particular, Harlot. It is produced by MDCV UK which is backed by serviced office tycoon Mark Dixon who also owns Château de Berne in Proven...

I used to approach the Christmas party season like Homer Simpson approaches a buffet. I’d start in early December and drink heartily right through to New Year’s Day. I wouldn’t have a dry January either. That would suggest I had a problem.
The revelry would reach a peak on Christmas Eve. I’d meet up with old school friends, we’d stay in the pub until closing and then go to someone’s house until 3am. I’d awake on Christmas Day hungover and, after breakfast, start on the champagne. By the time ...

Walking downstairs at Corney & Barrow’s City of London offices I was hit by an intoxicating smell. It was like walking into a bodega in Jerez - the air alive with the scent of yeast, almonds and bruised apples. The occasion was the unveiling of Viña Corrales – some very special single vineyard (or nearly single vineyard as I’ll explain later) sherries from Peter Sisseck, the great Dane behind Pingus in Ribera de Duero.
Peter Sisseck, Corney & Barrow, London, October 2024
He’s been a lover of ...

The annual Bibendum portfolio tasting earlier this month was called ‘Moments in Wine’ so I found myself involuntarily singing ‘One Moment in Time’ by Whitney Houston on my way to the Canary Wharf venue. If you can get your attendees singing on the way there, then that’s half the battle won. Though perhaps ‘Reasons to be Cheerful’ by Ian Dury would be more apt as everyone was putting a brave face on the country’s looming economic woes.
C&C Group wine buying director Jamie Avenell described it ...

When I received an email from the editor asking whether I’d like to represent The Buyer at the annual Domaine de la Romanée-Conti tasting in London my first thought was obviously yes, I’d love to. But then the anxiety crept in and I began to worry more and more as the day drew near.
My biggest concern was my nose or rather my potential lack of nose function. Like many people in Britain, I have been battling a cold since December which comes and goes without ever getting severe enough to brave...

For many years my wife has been telling me I should do a podcast. Partly I think so that someone else can listen to my ad hoc wine-based monologues at the dinner table. But I didn’t know where to start. How does one get a podcast off the ground? It all seemed like a lot of work for no guaranteed reward especially as I had a steady job.
Then in December 2022 I went on The Rest is History with Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland which was one of the most enjoyable things I’ve done in my career as...

Israel
The Guardian deleted an Israeli whisky from a drinks column by Henry Jeffreys, before reinstating it. Here, he explains why the Israeli tipple is so good

Thirteen months on, the story is “sad but there’s some optimism to it”, according to Netta Epstein’s mother. Netta, 22, was living at Kfar Aza with his fiancée, 22-year-old Irene Shavit, when Hamas attacked on October 7.
The couple hid for hours in their safe room, texting his mother who was in a house on the other side of the kibbutz. Then a terrorist hurled a grenade into the room and opened fire. Netta, a former paratrooper, smothered the explosion with his body.
He was killed instantly bu...

This article is more than 5 months old
This article is more than 5 months old
Some absolutely belting finds at belt-tightening prices
When I first took an interest in wine in the late 1990s, I had just finished university and consequently my budget was minuscule. Even so, I hoped that, by the age I am now (late 40s), I’d be drinking Château Latour at least a couple of times a year. Sadly, my pay never kept pace with the increasing cost of the best wines.
Actually, it’s much worse than that: m...

This article is more than 5 months old
This article is more than 5 months old
As the nights draw in, these winter warmers really come into their own
When the weather gets colder and wetter, and it starts getting dark earlier and earlier, I find myself involuntarily singing these words from Autumn Almanac by the Kinks: “Tea and toasted buttered currant buns / Can’t compensate for lack of sun / Because the summer’s all gone.”
As Ray Davies noted there, much of what we eat and drink is governed ...

The past 20 years has seen a profusion of new whisky distilleries in the most unlikely places, from India and Australia, and even to England. And, along the way, world whisky – which is defined as any that comes from countries outside Scotland, Ireland, America, Canada and Japan – has gone from a curiosity to being available on your local high street.
Distilleries range from one-man operations such as Belgrove in Tasmania, where founder Peter Bignell uses an old tumble dryer to malt his cerea...

Grenache is the ultimate all-rounder. A red grape native to Aragon in Spain, where it’s called garnacha, it can make everything from pale rosé to fortified wine; it’s even used in cava. If there was one grape to take to your desert island, it would have to be grenache, not least because you’d never get bored.
Grenache’s very adaptability means that it has historically been seen as a workhorse, with none of the glamour of, say, pinot noir or syrah. But that’s slowly beginning to change thanks ...

One of the strict rules of wine writing is that if you’re going to talk about chardonnay, you have to mention Bridget Jones. Other rules include how sherry articles must always contain a reference to grannies or vicars, and anything about German sparkling wine must be entitled The Joy of Sekt. Failure to comply with these diktats means instant expulsion from the shadowy Circle of Wine Writers.
That said, for readers of a certain age, chardonnay is synonymous with Bridget Jones. And not just a...

This article is more than 4 months old
This article is more than 4 months old
Armagnac, cognac’s less-celebrated cousin, boasts big, irresistible, fruity flavours, and gives you much more bang for your buck
The seemingly staid world of armagnac was well and truly disrupted earlier this year by the arrival of a brand called Hogsworth that blends bourbon whiskey with brandy from Gascony. It’s the creation of American entrepreneur Raj Bhakta, who in 2020 began buying up aged armagnac, and the na...

‘I’m a year-round rosé drinker, not just by the side of the pool,’ says Sergio Verillo from Blackbook in London on the idea behind his I’d Rather be a Rebel rosé. It’s made from Essex Pinot Noir treated to a long fermentation in barrel and aged for two years before it goes on the market. With its deep orange colour and textured, spicy palate, Verrillo’s inspiration is cult pinks like Viña Tondonia and Clos Cibonne.
This kind of ambition would have seemed ludicrous in English wine a few years ...