I’d like to do a regular post with bits and pieces picked up on the internet that possibly don’t warrant a post of their own but which are of interest, and with a few “points to ponder” added by myself. Read more

I very nearly missed out on the Exclusive Books sale this year; things have been hectic here at the bakery and I somehow missed the e-mail notification. I did however get there, by pure chance, and managed to get some nice bargains, including Malcolm Gluck’s Brave New World and Hugh Johnson’s Wine – a Life Uncorked and some novels. Read more

Which wine grape varieties suit the soil in the KZN Midlands is just one of many topics that were discussed last Sunday, when I attended a meeting of the KZN Midlands Wine Growers Association at the Meander Liquors (which is part of the Piggly Wiggly cluster of farm stall, popular coffee shop and craft outlets just out of Lions River and past the turn-off to the Dargle). Read more

One should try to avoid schadenfreude (or finding joy or delight in another’s misfortune) in life, and I’m pretty sure in wine making too. Yet it is impossible not to see an unfolding scandal without at least a slight feeling of “at least it wasn’t us this time”. Read more

I am not going to suggest that it was ever easy for Hugh Johnson as he set about writing his first The World Atlas of Wine back in 1971, as I’m sure the book was the result of lots of painstaking research and hard work in those “pre-google” days. Read more